


stay

by Jien_o



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Dirty Thoughts, Explicit Sexual Content, Flirting, Fluff, Jealousy, Kissing, Law is pining as per usual, Luffy is oblivious as per usual, M/M, Modern AU, Romance, Sexual Tension, Top Law, Virginity Kink, bottom luffy, law's pov, long chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:47:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23988361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jien_o/pseuds/Jien_o
Summary: It takes a little more than a pretty face to make Law interested, but this is different. He looks at Luffy and actually feels something shift, feels something heated, a burning in the pit of his stomach that wasn’t there before.
Relationships: Eustass Kid/Trafalgar D. Water Law, Monkey D. Luffy/Trafalgar D. Water Law
Comments: 87
Kudos: 388





	1. one

He comes home from work in the evening and his headache is killing him. 

The first thing he does is walk into his tiny kitchen and start his old coffee machine. The second thing is opening the large windows to his apartment and the door to his small roofed balcony, letting the fresh wind blow through his stuffy place. 

Outside the sky is a cloudy, dull grey, as the rain showers down lightly, the soft drizzle wetting the plants that were left hanging on the metal of the railing by the previous tenant. Law hasn’t bothered to remove them yet. They will die soon on their own anyway.

He only moved downtown a few weeks ago, when he finally managed to land a job at the city’s large hospital. The flat still feels new to him. Not like a home, more like a shitty hotel. A lonely space he's only occupying for a short moment in time before he moves on. He hopes the feeling will change. 

The apartment is tiny, and Law hasn’t even moved in completely. There are still moving boxes standing around and he doesn’t even own a proper dresser yet, his clothes bundled up messily in drawers and storage boxes in the corner of his bedroom. His small T.V. is standing on a cheap, white side table that wobbles dangerously when Law walks past it. The huge plant next to it looks a bit depressed and lost, a housewarming gift from Shachi that Law doesn’t know where else to put. 

The kitchen and his living room are connected as one open space, which manages to make the room appear larger than it is. The kitchen came with the apartment, a dark grey kitchenette mixed with light oak, plain but functional, and containing everything Law needs. 

The small table in his kitchen made of a simple white wooden plate, placed on two trestles, is just large enough so that two people could sit and dine around it. Law barely invites people over anyway, so he guesses it doesn’t matter much.

The only thing Law likes about the apartment is his large grey couch, where five people could sit easily and the extremely soft carpet he placed in front of it. He found the furniture on sale, worth much more than Law paid for it. He got lucky, so he snatched it up, and was even luckier that his friends helped him get the large thing up the stairways and into his apartment. 

Overall the flat is too costly, eating most of his salary, but it's the only place he could secure on short notice. The housing market is highly competitive and he couldn't afford to be picky. He's just grateful to have a roof over his head and this is good enough for now. 

He doesn’t spend much time here anyway.

Most of the day he’s at work. A cardiologist working as a nurse is unheard of, sure, but it’s better than nothing. It’s not his dream job, not by a long shot, but work is hard to get and he’s grateful. Being overqualified is not the worst thing; being underpaid though, is. At least he's got a foot in the door, right? Maybe he can work his way up or something. 

That's the plan, at least.

The crackling of the coffee machine comes to an end and he gets a cup of freshly brewed filter coffee, skipping milk and sugar. He makes his way back outside again, and sits down at the edge of his balcony, the wide fence feels secure enough and he lets his legs dangle through the bars.

He takes a sip of his black coffee, burns his tongue slightly. His coffee machine is cheap and the liquid is still too hot so he sets the cup aside.

He takes out a cigarette instead. 

Law doesn’t smoke often. He knows the kind of irreversible damage it can cause to the human body. The images of tar colored lungs have imprinted themselves into his mind ever since medical school. 

It’s a guilty pleasure, not something he indulges in all the time. He feels like he needs some kind of stress relief today though, so it's okay.

He lights up the cigarette, inhales, exhales, closes his eyes. His head is pounding. He's thinking. He's always thinking. He can't fall asleep because he's thinking. Sometimes he wishes he could stop, give his brain a break or something. It hurts, but his mind never shuts up. 

There's so much to worry over lately, Law's going to be sick with it. 

He's twenty-six. 

Why is life not getting easier? 

_"Hey!"_ a voice suddenly shouts, ripping Law out of his thoughts. "Don't do it!" 

Law looks down and sees a young guy staring up at him. His black hair wetly plastered to his forehead, and he's holding a pizza carton in his right hand. 

"What?" he mumbles to himself, "Is he talking to me?" Law looks around but there's no one but him, so he must be. 

"Don't jump!" the guy yells again, his brows furrowed in worry.

Law rolls his eyes in understanding and snorts slightly. What the fuck? He's not about to fucking kill himself. He's just enjoying a cigarette outside on his balcony, watching the rain and relishing in the gloom like any sane, non-suicidal person would do. 

" _Fuck off_ ," Law shouts down, frowning at the guy, "I'm not trying to-"

"Hold up! Wait, wait!" Law gets interrupted loudly, "I'm coming up!" 

"What?! No, hey, don't!" he yells, but his efforts remain fruitless. 

The guy is not even listening to him, walking towards the entrance of the apartment building, a determined look on his face. 

"Great," Law huffs out. He snubs the half-finished cigarette over the balcony and takes his coffee inside again. He can't even fight his headache in peace. 

A few moments later there's rapid knocking on his door, followed by an "Open up!" a pause and then a "Don't kill yourself!"

Law can't help but roll his eyes again, annoyed. He hopes that this kid never has to prevent someone from trying to jump off somewhere for real. He contemplates ignoring him for 0.2 seconds but then decides that it's not worth having to listen to the loud insistent knocking. 

So he reluctantly opens the door, hissing out a " _What?_ " 

The guy blinks at him, he's holding the pizza carton in his left hand, his right hand raised mid-air, surely because he wanted to hammer his fist against Law's old wooden door one more time. 

He slowly lets his hand sink, a cheerful grin splitting his face. "Oh good," he says, voice bright, "I kept you from jumping." 

"The fuck you did," Law mumbles, irritated. He pinches the bridge of his nose, "I wasn't even going to." 

The guy just gives him a doubtful look, concerned eyebrows and all. He clearly doesn't believe a single word Law says. 

Law feels his eye twitch, "I wasn't!" he states again, this time more vigorously, "I'm not suicidal, okay? What the fuck." 

"Sure," the guy mutters, looking concerned. He takes a deliberate step forward, intentions unknown to Law. "I think I should, you know, stay with you for awhile just to make sure." 

"Make sure, _what?_ " Law asks sharply. He tries to block the way into his apartment. The guy seems like a lunatic. Law's not equipped to deal with that right now. 

"That you don't decide to take your life after all," the lunatic shrugs, like it's obvious, like Law is the stupid one here, "And I'm already here, so." 

So what? So they can hang out? Bold assumption. 

Law makes a face, "I don't think-" 

"I'm Luffy, by the way," the guy just goes on, ignoring Law, "C'mon, I don't want to leave and then read about your death in the newspaper the next morning or something, that's just sad." 

With these words Luffy manages to squeeze past him, pizza carton digging into Law's stomach as he does. Law blinks a bit stupidly after him. Shit. Now he's got this nutjob raging wild in his apartment. 

"Hey," he calls after him, following him into the kitchen, his voice stern now, "You can't just invite yourself into other people's homes." 

Luffy places the pizza carton on Law's small kitchen table, opening it up, "You want a slice?" he asks.

Law blinks. Is he for real? "Are you even listening to me?" he asks.

"Nah, not really," Luffy shrugs. He sits down in one of Law's chairs, pulling one of his legs up, getting comfy, "Here have some pizza, dude. Might make you less suicidal." 

"I'm _not_ suicidal!" Law stresses again but already fears that it's hopeless. 

Luffy has started eating the pizza right out of the god damn box like an animal. There's tomato sauce at the corner of his mouth, and he's clearly having trouble with the long strings of cheese. 

"Try it!" Luffy says, cheeks full of food, "It's _so_ good." 

Law sighs, he knows he sounds defeated even to his own ears. He surrenders to his fate and proceeds to get out plates and cutlery. If they have to do this, they do it on his terms. 

He throws a tissue into Luffy's sauce stained face then sits down across from him. Luffy ignores the tissue and offers him a slice instead. Law just holds his plate out, albeit reluctantly. He can't believe he let this guy walk all over him. 

Oh well, free pizza at least. 

\--

„Wait,“ Law says, interrupting Luffy’s endless chatter. „What do you mean you were supposed to deliver this pizza?!“ 

Luffy blinks surprised „Well yeah,“ he gives a simple shrug „It’s my job.“

„But that means that someone is waiting for their order right now,“ Law states. 

Luffy frowns at him, „It’s free pizza.“ he says slowly, like _Law_ is the stupid one, „Why are you complaining?"

Law feels his eyebrow twitch. How can someone be this careless? Luffy’s not even wearing a delivery uniform either. How was Law supposed to know that this pizza was paid for by someone else. someone who’s probably giving an angry call to whatever pizza place Luffy works at right now? 

„Aren’t you afraid you’ll lose your job?“ Law asks curiously, wiping off his mouth with one of the tissues.

„Nah,“ Luffy shakes his head lightly, his black hair falling into his eyes messily. „I’m blaming you anyway.“

Law stares at him, „Me?“ he repeats in disbelief, „What did I do?“ 

„You distracted me,“ Luffy states. He eyes the last slice of pizza in the box, before glancing at him a little warily, „I’m eating that,“ he proclaims. 

Law rolls his eyes and shoves the box over to him. It’s not like Luffy has eaten most of the pizza on his own anyway. „I didn’t distract you.“ Law feels like he needs to make this clear, „You misinterpreted the situation, that’s all.“ 

„They would have had to wipe you off the concrete if it weren’t for me,“ Luffy nods like that’s a fact, „I hope you’re feeling better now at least. Did the pizza help?“

„Sure,“ Law scoffs, „Whatever you say.“ 

There’s no arguing with this boy anyway. Law has known Luffy for an hour tops maybe, but he can already tell that Luffy’s extremely stubborn and more than a little dense. 

Still, Law guesses that it’s weirdly nice to know that someone would’ve cared. No matter how stupidly wrong Luffy was, it was kind of … nice that he seemed to express real worry about Law. Sometimes it’s the thought that counts. 

Law’s not used to random acts of kindness like that. The one thing he’s noticed after moving into this city is that everyone is too busy fighting for themselves. 

Luffy smiles at him, a big grin, all warmth. Law can’t remember the last time someone smiled at him like that.

„Good,“ Luffy says, and he sounds honest, almost relieved, „We should do this again sometime, yeah?“ 

Law lifts an eyebrow and asks just to clarify, „Eat pizza?“ 

„Eat whatever,“ Luffy shrugs, that big smile not leaving his face, „You know. Preventive measures.“ 

Preventive measures? To keep Law from jumping off his balcony? This guy is ridiculous. _Ridiculous_. 

Law outright laughs, „Sure,“ he agrees though, „Why not?“ 

—

„Family-sized lasagna,“ Luffy says in greeting when Law opens the door. He holds up a big box for Law to take. 

„Awesome, I’m about to starve,“ Law lets Luffy pass him in the doorway, „Shoes off.“ 

„You didn’t say so last time,“ Luffy complains while he kicks his shoes off and into the corner before he bounces into Law’s kitchen. 

„ _Last time_ ,“ Law stresses, following after him, „You kind of took me by surprise.“ 

„I did, huh?“ Luffy asks, but Law can tell that he’s not even paying attention to their conversation, his eyes glued to the takeaway box in Law’s hand. 

„Sit down,“ Law orders, and Luffy does so immediately. Law proceeds to get out plates and cutlery, placing it in front of the other, before opening the takeaway carton. 

„Ah,“ Luffy inhales deeply, „Smells amazing!“ 

„Looks good too,“ Law agrees.

He stops Luffy from just digging in like an animal, (Jesus, who the fuck taught the boy table manners?) and places a large-sized portion on Luffy’s plate before moving to his own.

Luffy eyes their portions a little warily, but he seems to come to the conclusion that he’s been treated fairly and immediately starts shoving food into his mouth. 

„So good,“ he munches, cheeks full. Law makes a face. „You need to try it, Torao!“ 

Law hesitates, fork mid-air, „Torao?“ He questions. Is that supposed to be some mangled version of his surname? 

Luffy nods, continuing eating, „It says so on the mailbox.“

„No, it doesn’t, it says Trafalgar,“ Law corrects him, „And I told you to call me Law last time, remember?“

„Yeah, yeah,“ Luffy says, „I like Torao better, don’t you?“

Law lifts a doubtful eyebrow, „Not really,“ he says.

Luffy just grins at him and Law gets the feeling so that Luffy doesn’t care much about what he thinks of it. Law probably should get used to it, huh? Luffy seems to be the type of guy to just do whatever the hell he feels like. 

At least that’s the kind of vibe Law’s getting. 

„Eat your food before I do,“ Luffy says suddenly, ripping Law out of his thoughts. 

Law starts digging in because judging by the first time Law has seen Luffy eat he fears Luffy hasn’t been joking and will seriously steal from his plate if he hesitates for too long. 

The lasagna is delicious, just the right amount of cheese and spices and he makes a little noise in pleasure, „Wow,“ he says, chewing slowly, enjoying the taste, „I feel bad for the family we’re stealing this from.“

„I don’t,“ Luffy shamelessly admits, „They order all the time and never even tip me.“

„Rude,“ Law comments, „Then I guess I don’t need to have a guilty conscience, either.“ 

Luffy laughs, a bright cheerful sound, and Law can’t help but smile back. Luffy sounds so carefree and happy when he laughs, it’s almost contagious. 

„Yeah no,“ Luffy shrugs, „Sanji hates them too. He always cusses when they order, because they complain so much.“

„Sanji?“ Law asks, curiously, „Co-worker?“ he takes a guess. 

„He’s the cook,“ Luffy nods, „And a friend. The restaurant belongs to his old man. He’s a funny dude. Kinda angry though,“ Luffy laughs a little, almost a _shishishi_ sound, „I used to be a waiter at the place, but I dropped too many plates so they made me the delivery guy.“

Law makes a mental note to keep Luffy away from his good cutlery, „What’s it called?“ He asks. 

„The restaurant?“ Luffy asks and when Law gives a short nod he goes on, „The Baratie. Heard of it?“

Law shakes his head, „I only moved here a few weeks ago, though“ he says, „I haven’t really been around yet.“

„Oh well, it’s small, and kinda hidden,“ Luffy shrugs lightly, after a pause he adds, „I can show you around the city, if you want.“

„Sure,“ Law agrees, because why not? 

It’s about time that he sees more than his street and the subway that takes him to the hospital. Law used to have a car but he sold it when he moved. Traffic in this city is horrendous, with streets congested during seemingly interminable rush hours. Law doesn’t like wasting time. 

Law’s not a fan of the city just yet, not that he expected to fall in love with the dirty streets when he moved here. Still, every migrant travels with a set of expectations, and even if he considers himself a great pessimist he had hoped to be pleasantly surprised. 

Because hope dies last.

Until hope moves into the big city. Then it dies voluntarily.

Law has found the city to be a surreal place. Other places flatter, captivate or kick you. This city doesn't, from what little Law has seen, it does nothing.

„I have a day off on Friday,“ Law says, „How about it?“

„Yeah,“ Luffy grins in anticipation, „Let’s do that. I can show you my favorite spots,“ he seems excited by the prospect. 

Luffy must know his way around, right? He’s a delivery guy after all.—

\--

Luffy absolutely does _not_ know his way around. 

Luffy manages to get them lost at least 12 times, running around the city and dragging Law along like a lunatic, ignoring Law whenever he suggests a direction or tries to look up where the fuck they are on google maps. 

Luffy didn’t even manage to find the restaurant he works at, missing the station and taking them to the outskirts of the city by accident.

„I can’t believe you missed the station,“ Law lets out an exhausted sigh, mindlessly kicking a stone away in front of his feet. „Aren’t you taking the same route every day?“

„Yeah, oops,“ Luffy laughs carelessly, a happy little sound. Law feels the corners of his mouth twitch in response, „I got distracted by the fat bug on the window,“ he says like that’s reasonable. 

Law rolls his eyes. They’re kind of aimlessly walking around, following a small street down the seaside, where the waves crash at the beach in endless calming patterns. Law can make out a small port in the distance, where a few boats sway back and forth in rhythm.

The sun is going down next to them, taking the heat of the day with it. Still, it’s pleasant. The breeze of the ocean messes up their hair, the air smells like sea water, salty and fresh, and Law inhales deeply. There are clouds of seagulls, fluttering around at sunset, calling to each other, their voices disappearing into the wind.

Law has never been here before, but Luffy seems to know the path they’re following along. 

When he looks to the side he can see the sun getting lost at the ocean's edge, painting the sky in yellows and pinks. 

It’s actually kind of breathtaking and much more peaceful than the busy city could ever hope to be. It makes Law think that Luffy never wanted to go to the Baratie in the first place and took him here on purpose. 

„I like the ocean,“ Luffy suddenly speaks up. 

Law hums, following Luffy’s gaze out to the sea, „Me too.”

„It just seems endless, doesn’t it?“ Luffy says and Law tears his eyes away from the waves to look at Luffy. 

Luffy’s gaze can only be described as longing. Like the ocean holds something very dear to him, keeping it away, until Luffy finds the courage to come and get it. It’s a little unsettling to Law. Luffy’s usually goofing around, smiling at everyone and everything, but now he seems like he’s deep in thought. 

He looks a little older like that, solemn and with a hint of melancholy in his eyes. It shouldn’t suit him, but it does. Makes him more facetted than Law thought he was, makes him more real too. 

Law doesn’t really know what to say, taken aback by the sudden mood shift and the realization that there might be more to Luffy than the endlessly happy guy, who’s energy seems to burst out at the seams. 

The wind tousles their hair, and Luffy reaches up to keep strands of black hair out of his eyes. 

He’s really pretty, Law realizes and it makes his heart skip a beat.

He quickly looks away from Luffy, swallowing hard, but the thought has already burned itself into his mind and he can’t shake it off. 

It’s not like he didn’t notice before that Luffy’s attractive, kind of exactly Law’s type, with his tan skin and warm eyes, his freckled button nose and cute face. He only recognized it in the back of his mind though and deemed it as unimportant. 

Many people around him are good looking, but it doesn’t mean that it makes Law’s heartbeat pick up every time he sees them, doesn’t mean he’s attracted to them. 

It takes a little more than a pretty face to make Law interested, but this is different. He looks at Luffy and actually feels something shift, feels something heated, a burning in the pit of his stomach that wasn’t there before. 

„Let’s take a picture,“ Luffy suggests suddenly, ripping Law out of his thoughts. 

„Huh?“ Law asks, whipping his head around to look at him again, surprised by the suggestion. 

Luffy already has his phone in his hand, slinging his arm around Law’s neck and pulling him down to his height, pressing their faces together, cheek to cheek. Law sees himself for only a split second in the broken screen of Luffy’s phone, but he can’t even react before Luffy takes a picture and lets him go again. 

Luffy looks at the picture on the screen, and lets out a satisfied hum, „You look funny, Torao!“ 

„What?“ He asks, still perplexed, „Show me.“ 

„Don’t delete it!“ Luffy says, reluctantly handing him the phone, „I’m going to punch you, if you do,“ he warns. 

On the screen, Luffy’s smiling, a wide grin, his eyes closed. Much to Law’s dismay, his emotions show up on his face, surprised and a little overwhelmed. The sun is going down in the background, and Law can see the ocean behind them. 

It’s not a good picture though, a bit skewed and off-center. Luffy took it so quickly and didn’t bother to make it perfect. 

„How about you delete this one and we can take another picture,“ Law suggests, „I wasn’t prepared.“

„No way,“ Luffy shakes his head, swiftly taking his phone out of Law’s hands again and pressing it protectively to his chest, „It’s good, I’m keeping it.“

Law makes a face in defeat, „Whatever makes you happy,“ he grumbles. 

Luffy only smiles, like the sun in the center of every constellation.

„It does,“ he says. 

Law doesn’t bother arguing.

—

It’s late in the evening when they finally make it back to Law’s place. Law’s never walked around so senselessly in his goddamn life. 

„I can’t believe I let you get us lost so many times,“ Law huffs out an exhausted breath, collapsing on his soft couch. Jesus, his entire body hurts. „God, I hate you so much.“ 

Luffy lets himself plop down next to him and laughs, still full of endless energy and not taking Law seriously either, „It was fun, huh?“

„It was _not_ ,“ Law disagrees, even though that’s a goddamn lie and judging by the knowing smile Luffy sends him, he knows so as well.

Sure, his feet hurt, his back aches, he’s hungry and tired, but still. He had fun. He’s seen a lot today, feels like he’s been to every inch and corner of the city, and above it all, Luffy was somehow nice to be around and easy to talk to. 

Law can’t remember the last time he got so caught up in the moment that he forgot to worry and actually enjoyed himself. It’s like Luffy knew Law needed someone to force him out of the little introverted bubble he’s been living in the last few weeks.

Law has never been someone who makes friends easily. He gets along with his new co-workers just fine, but most people find him too cold and distant to actually try to befriend him, and Law rarely ever bothers. He’s happy with his own company and very seldom feels the need for someone else. Law has a few close friends to hang out with, if he feels like it, and that’s good enough for him. He hasn’t seen them since he fully moved in though. 

Luffy seems like the opposite, bright and warm. He probably has tons of friends considering, he just waltzed into Law’s life, loud and unavoidable, optimistic that they would somehow click. 

And Law guesses, in some weird way that fails to make sense to him, they do click. 

„Food now?“ Luffy suddenly speaks up and his stomach growls as if on command, accompanying his words, „Please?“

„We could make pasta,“ Law suggests, mentally going through his half stocked cupboard and fridge, „With chicken perhaps? Spinach?“

„Sounds good,“ Luffy agrees easily, „Sounds amazing actually. Just one correction. _You_ make pasta. Not _we_. I can’t.“

Law rolls his eyes, „Of course you can.“ 

„No,“ Luffy stretches his arms out, almost hitting Law in the face, „Can’t.“ 

„You work for a _restaurant_ ,“ Law points out, „Surely you picked up a thing or two.“ 

„Nuh-uh,“ Luffy shakes his head, „Did not.“ 

Well then, Law thinks, about time then.

— 

Law realizes that trying to teach Luffy _anything_ is wasted effort.

„I told you to stir. _Stir!_ “ Law repeats, feeling stressed out, „How many fucking times did I tell you to—„ 

„I'm stirring, I’m _stirring_ ,“ Luffy says and he sounds just as stressed as Law feels. He glares at the pot of spinach on the stove. He looks like he’s ready to fight it, „This is not working.“ He says angrily, "The spinach is not _working_.“

„ _You’re_ not working!“ Law retorts, not caring how ridiculous he sounds. „Okay, you know what? Let me handle the spinach.“ He lightly hip checks Luffy out of the way, „Here, cut some cherry tomatoes. That’s easy, okay?“ 

„Okay,“ Luffy seems to be relieved and reaches for the knife in Law’s hand. Law hands it over rather reluctantly. 

He’s seen the shit Luffy can do with a _spoon_. Law fears the knife will end up somewhere near his kidney.

„Careful, yeah?“ Law asks, „Don’t hurt yourself.“ _Or me_ , he adds in his thoughts, „Just cut them down in the middle once and then carefully put them into the heated pan.“

„Yeah okay,“ Luffy agrees, getting to work immediately. 

Law winces. Luffy’s clumsy as hell, clearly not even used to a simple cutting motion. He seems overly concentrated as well, almost like he’s afraid of messing it up again, glancing helplessly at Law for direction. 

Law sighs, „Like that,“ he says, crowding behind Luffy, chest to back, to take the knife out his uncoordinated hands, „Just one slice,“ he instructs, looking over Luffy’s shoulder and cutting one tomato down the middle, „See? Easy.“ 

„Yeah, got it,“ Luffy nods, his hair tickling Law’s chin and it hits Law like a slap to the face when he realizes how damn close they are. 

He’s not trying to…what? Feel Luffy up? Come onto him? flirt with him? Any of that, seriously. 

He just feels comfortable enough with him to forget about personal space. It’s actually kind of out of character for him, it usually takes him some time to warm up to people but even though he hasn’t known Luffy for long he feels kind of safe with him. 

He steps away from Luffy, the heat of his back vanishing from his chest. Luffy doesn’t even seem to notice, he focuses back on the tomatoes, cutting them with a happy little smile on his face, obviously relieved that Law tasked him with something more manageable. 

It’s kind of cute, actually. 

Law immediately turns away from Luffy, getting back to the spinach again, face heating up a little. First he notices how pretty he is and now he adds cute to the list? Where is this going? Luffy’s a lot of things; ridiculous, loud, rude, dense, but _god_ , Luffy’s _not_ cute.

Fuck.

Law can’t deny how fast his heart is beating though. 

— 

„This is _delicious_ ,“ Luffy hums happily, shoving another spork full of pasta into his mouth.

Law just shrugs. It’s okay, considering they only had the leftovers of Law’s fridge to work with. 

They are seated around Law’s small kitchen table, only the dim light of the light bulb above their heads is lighting up their features. Law should seriously invest in some lampshades. 

„You should cook for the Baratie,“ Luffy adds, cheeks full of food. Law only gives him a doubtful look, „Seriously, Torao!“

Law rolls his eyes in response, „You are greatly overestimating my abilities in the kitchen,“ he says, „This is just pasta. It’s not that hard.“

„It’s so good though!“ Luffy points out, clearly easily impressed. Law gets the feeling that Luffy thinks most food is good, so he doesn’t feel all that flattered. 

There’s a bit of spinach on the corner of his mouth. Law wants to wipe it off, and he doesn’t think twice about it before he does it. 

He takes Luffy’s unused napkin, reaching over to wipe at the boy’s face. 

„God, you’re so messy,“ he mumbles, a bit frustrated and suddenly feeling a little flustered. 

One dude just doesn’t wipe at the face of another dude, without wanting to come across as flirtatious.

It’s such an affectionate gesture, isn’t it? And Law didn’t even think twice about doing it. Fuck, he kind of wants to shove the napkin into Luffy’s face and leave his own home to escape the situation. 

Luffy doesn’t complain about the treatment, though. He holds patiently still and grins up at him when Law’s done, „All good?“ He asks, smiling, clearly amused.

„Better,“ Law just says. 

He’s grateful that Luffy doesn’t feel awkward about it, rather it seems like he’s pleased by receiving this sort of attention. 

Law doesn’t know where to go from here, really. He hasn’t made his mind up about his intentions. 

He enjoys Luffy’s company, no matter how frustrating it can be. He likes him enough to forget about his own aversions against casual physical contact, rather he finds he craves it. He didn’t even mind Luffy invading his personal space, walking close to him at the beach, so much so that Luffy’s shoulders bumped into his arm from time to time. 

Anyone else and Law would’ve told them to fuck off, but no, not with Luffy. 

He only wants to pull Luffy closer.

—

It’s late at night when Luffy leaves his place. 

He mumbles something about having to wake up early because he wants to visit a friend, and Law brings him to his front door, yawning a little. They’ve just been lazing around on his couch for the last hours, watching T.V. and talking about nothing important. Luffy is one of the few people in Law’s life who are able to let silence be silence, without finding it uncomfortable. Law’s glad for it. 

He’s a little taken aback when Luffy goes up his tiptoes, skinny arms looping around Law’s neck, pushing them together, chest to chest, as he hugs him goodbye. 

“I had fun today,” Luffy says, his breath tickling Law’s ear, “Thanks.” 

After a short second of surprise, he hugs Luffy back, one arm going around his small waist, pressing him to his body for a short moment before letting go and stepping back again. It shouldn’t feel this hard to let Luffy out of his arms, but it does. 

Luffy leaves with a warm smile and a little wave, before he makes his way down the stairs, causing the automatic lighting to go on as he goes.

Law closes the door behind him with a sigh, feels a little torn. 

There’s definitely something there and he can’t deny it. Something underlying, something akin to excitement, buzzing through his veins when he thinks about Luffy, when he gets close to Luffy. 

Law hopes it’s just a passing infatuation, but already fears that it’s not. He doesn’t just crush on someone every three weeks or so, in fact, it almost never happens. At least not as quickly and easily as this. 

When was the last time Law felt like this about someone else? The telling signs of his heart picking up speed. The excitement and giddiness of meeting someone that manages to bring out feelings like that. When was the last time he had felt grateful to a person that managed to pull him out of his comfort zone?

Law can’t remember. 

“Damn it,” he curses. 

The entire day already felt like a fucking date, getting coffee in the city, walking around the beach at sunset, cooking shitty pasta together. That’s all things couples do, right? 

Law had dates like this before, except it had always just felt like these were the necessary steps he had to take if he wanted to fuck whoever he had gone out with. He had never truly enjoyed his time. He had never felt like this afterwards, so hopelessly hopeful, so filled with relentless energy, making his heart pound just a little too fast to be normal. 

And it’s not like anything even happened. Not like he got closer to Luffy in any significant way. He didn’t even kiss Luffy.

Fuck, he didn’t even _kiss Luffy_ and now that the thought has crossed his mind he kind of desperately wants to.

It’s suddenly incredibly hard to think of anything else. 

What would kissing Luffy be like? Would he be firm and determined? Pressing their lips together again and again and again, trying to lead the kiss and overpower Law, fighting it like it’s a battle to be won? Or would he seek union and closeness, the sharing of one breath? Chasing the other’s heat until the lack of air forces them to part? 

Or would he wield underneath Law, clutching nervously onto his shirt, giving in and letting Law take the lead, let Law take charge for once? What if Luffy doesn’t have much experience in kissing to begin with? What if Law’s the first one who dares to lay claim to his pretty mouth? 

“Fuck,” Law breaths out, feels heat spreading into his face at his thoughts, rushing down into his guts. 

He’s getting fucking _hard_ just thinking about it. 

God, something about the thought of Luffy being so innocent and inexperienced that he never had someone touch him, never had someone even _kiss_ him, it’s enough to make him lose it. He quickly opens up his belt buckle, makes deft work on the zipper of his pants, before he gets his hard cock out of his jeans. 

He leans against his door, still in his small entrance hall and jerks off, eyes closed and hand going up and down his cock in swift, practiced motions. He doesn’t care if it’s pathetic. 

He can’t help but think about Luffy. His mind paints a picture so vivid and real, almost tangible. What would Luffy look like, turned on and willing? Offering himself up to Law? Clueless and a virgin? Waiting for Law to show him how it’s done?

Law would push the boy to his knees, before he even knew what had hit him. 

Luffy would love it though, wouldn’t he? he would gladly accept Law’s cock into his open, waiting mouth, letting Law fuck into his throat, rough and careless, and eager to please. 

Luffy would take it. He would choke and drool and sob but he would _take it_.

Just like the good boy Law knows he is. 

The thought alone of Luffy allowing him to touch him, to hold him close, trusting Law to take care of him, is enough to rip a dark growl right out of his throat. 

He squeezes the base of his cock in his hand, imagining Luffy’s pink lips wrapping around his length, mouthing at the swollen head of his cock, licking up the pre-come, before letting Law slide down deeper again and closing his eyes in mindless bliss, because Luffy enjoys it too, finds pleasure in taking Law into his wet throat.

His hand gets faster around his cock, his thumb sliding over his head, smearing the wetness that has gathered. The only sounds that he can hear are his own heavy breaths, loud in the otherwise quiet room. 

He’s turned on out of his goddamn mind, his head flooded with pictures of Luffy; on his knees, on all fours presenting his tight little virgin hole, or even better; naked and on top of him, riding him, moaning out in bliss because he _loves taking Law’s cock_.

 _Fuck_.

Law jerks into the tight grip of his fist and comes with a grunt, embarrassedly fast, panting in exhaustion.

Fuck. 

\--

„You gotta run faster, Torao!“ Luffy yells, running a few feet in front of Law, then running back and forth, reminding Law of a rambunctious little puppy.

Law scoffs, his tracker showing him that he’s running a steady pace of 11 km/h, the perfect speed for a jog. Luffy runs back to him, slowing down to keep running next to him. It seems to come effortlessly to him, while Law’s already breaking a sweat. 

They’re running down the same path they walked a few days ago. They’ve already left the small port behind them. The ocean wind is blowing into their faces, slowing them down a little. Law hopes the direction doesn’t change and when they run back, it will help them along. The sun hits the back of his neck, warming him up even more.

„If you keep this up you’ll be exhausted in no time,“ Law points out. 

Luffy lets out a light snort, like the thought of being exhausted because of a cardio workout is ridiculous to him. Law’s assumed that Luffy’s fit, just going by his stature, but perhaps he underestimated him. They’ve already covered a good distance and Luffy doesn’t appear to be bothered. 

He kind of looks forward to Luffy being tired out for once though. Luffy seems to be made out of pure endless energy, never running out of it. Law wonders what it takes to wear him out. He’s got a few ideas in mind, but none of them have to do with running. Luffy appears to have crazy amounts of stamina, Law can’t help but think about how that translates into the bedroom.

How many rounds could Luffy go a night? How many times would he ask for it until he's fully satisfied? Would he be demanding? Needy? Insatiable? Weak to pleasure? How many times could Law take him apart until Luffy’s too sexually exhausted to beg for more?

Luffy, all sated and tired in his bed, messy and satisfied because Law took such good care of him. Fuck, the thought alone is enough to start a small fire in his guts. 

He shakes his head at his thoughts, now is not the time nor the place to be thinking about Luffy that way. It almost feels wrong to do so anyway. Luffy has never even made a dirty joke or a suggestive remark in his direction. 

But ever since that night where he jerked off thinking about him, his mind is in the goddamn gutter. 

_Snap out of it, Trafalgar._

He focuses back on the real Luffy, innocently running next to him. He tries to pick up the conversation again.

„The secret to a successful long-distance run is keeping a steady pace,“ Law educates him. 

„Nerd,“ Luffy laughs lightly, „The secret to a successful run is _running_ ,“ he says, speeding up again and leaving Law behind.

Law shakes his head at him and lets Luffy run wild.

—

„Oh, _finally_ ,“ Luffy lets out a sigh of relief when they make it through Law’s door. Luffy makes his way to his living room and immediately collapses on the couch, letting out an exhausted breath, „I’m about to _die_.“

Law huffs but keeps the _told you so_ , to himself. 

Luffy kept running back and forth like a lunatic, taking longer routes and running around senselessly. The run was exhausting, even for him, even without the completely uncoordinated interval training that Luffy had done, running with Law, then speeding up, then running back to Law, and speeding up again.

He probably ran twice the amount of what Law did, so it’s no surprise that he’s so exhausted. Law’s astonished that Luffy even made it back home with him without having to take a break in between.

„Get your sweaty ass off my couch,“ Law mutters instead, getting two cold bottles of water out of his fridge and lending Luffy one who takes it gratefully. 

„Make me,“ Luffy mumbles, but despite his words, slides off the couch until his butt hits Law’s soft carpet, „I’m so _hungry_. Torao, I need _food_.“ 

„Shower first,“ Law orders, but Luffy only makes a disgusted face at him in response. Law rolls his eyes and adds, „C’mon, shower. You go first.“

„We can take a shower together,“ Luffy suggests. He swiftly gets up from the floor, muttering a small „Heave ho!“ as he goes.

Shower … _together?_

Law’s brain is kind of stuck. Luffy can’t seriously mean…no. He does. Of course he does. Law’s pulse picks up. There’s no other way it could be interpreted. Law swallows hard, not sure how to answer, not sure how to talk himself out of the situation. 

Luffy wraps his hand around his wrist to drag him into the direction of the bathroom. Law just refrains from stomping his heels into the wooden floor. „Wait,“ he says, even though he doesn’t know how to follow up on that. 

Luffy turns back and blinks at him, wide eyes questioning and when Law takes too long to give a response, he makes an impatient noise and shoves him unceremoniously through the bathroom door, closing it behind himself. 

Then he takes his shirt off, letting it fall to the white tiled floor. 

Suddenly there’s a lot of sun kissed naked skin, just right in front of him and Law can’t fucking cope. He quickly tears his eyes away from Luffy accidentally catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror above his sink. God damn it, he’s blushing.

„Wait,“ Law says again, helplessly. 

He’s not prepared to see Luffy naked. He’s not prepared to see him naked and wet and to be next to him in such a small space, where accidental touching is almost impossible to avoid. He’s not prepared for _any_ of this shit. 

„What?“ Luffy asks then, halting in the movement of sliding his pants off, „What are you waiting for? C’mon, clothes off.“

„The shower is too small for two people,“ Law argues quickly, taking a careful step back. He tries hard to avoid looking at Luffy’s naked chest. 

Luffy eyes the shower a little warily, „It’s not that small,“ he concludes, „Isn’t showering together more time..time… effi.. effasient?“

„Time efficient?“ Law helps out. 

„Yeah, that,“ Luffy says, waving him off. „Isn’t that right up your alley? You love stuff like that.“

Law blinks, stumped by the correct assessment. 

He likes keeping things to the point. He hates wasting time, doesn’t like to leave any hour of the day unused. He likes to get shit done, in the most structured, well-organized and competent way. 

How did Luffy pick out that particular character trait so easily? It’s not like they’ve known each other for long and Law can’t remember ever mentioning something like that either. 

It makes him pause. He has to give Luffy a little credit. The guy might not be the brightest candle on the cake, but what he seems to lack in classic intelligence he certainly makes up with an emotional one. 

He gets ripped out of his thoughts when suddenly Luffy’s hands grab the hem of his shirt. Law takes a step back in surprise, his back hitting the white wooden door with a thud. 

„Hey!“ he complains. 

But Luffy ignores him, yanking his black shirt up and above his head with barely any effort. An impressive feat considering he’s much shorter than Law.

„There you go,“ Luffy grins up at him, almost in a _mission accomplished_ kind of way, a satisfied tilt to it, smug. 

Law hands immediately go up to his hair, trying to flatten it and reduce the damage, knowing that it must be sticking into every direction with the way Luffy forcefully pulled the fabric over his head.

„You can’t just-„ he starts but he doesn’t get very far. 

Luffy makes a little noise in awe and then his small hands are on him, roaming Law’s naked chest, sliding over his skin, touching him and leaving goosebumps in their wake. 

„What the fuck.“ Law mutters, helplessly overwhelmed. 

„Your tattoos,“ Luffy breaths out, obviously unaware of Law’s discomfort, „So cool!“

It takes a considerable amount of self-restraint and determination to swat Luffy’s grabby hands off of him, to not take it as an invitation, to not interpret it as Luffy coming onto him, to not react the way he actually wants to react. Fuck, is this guy even aware of the shit he’s doing? Probably not. 

Law feels his face heat up, „What the hell, Luffy,“ he says again, can’t hide the exasperation in his voice.

It’s not like he dislikes Luffy’s hands on him, the problem is the opposite really. Maybe he enjoys it a little too much. 

„I didn’t know you had that many,“ Luffy grins sheepishly, his eyes are still on Law’s chest, following the black lines of his tattoos. Law can almost physically feel the burning gaze on his skin, traveling up and down, it makes Law’s pulse pick up. 

„Well, yeah,“ Law says a little lamely, not sure how to escape Luffy’s admiring glance, not sure if he even wants to. 

„They suit you,“ Luffy nods, like he has decided, „Shower now?“

Law sighs and resigns to his fate, „Yeah, whatever,“ he mumbles.

He hates feeling this way, out of his depth, a little helpless in the wake of Luffy’s recklessness, and overwhelmed with the way his heart has started to flutter in a way that can only be described as hopeful. 

He tries not to read too much into it. He tries to remind himself that Luffy probably doesn’t think twice about shit either. Fuck, it’s probably nothing. It doesn’t mean anything, doesn’t mean Luffy is attracted to him the way Law would like him to be. 

Luffy doesn’t waste any more time. He loses the rest of his clothes swiftly and makes his way into the shower, turning the water on quickly. 

He chants, „Cold, cold, cold!“ under his breath and Law snorts. 

He avoids Luffy’s eyes when he finally gets over himself and joins him in the shower. He tries his best to ignore the fact that the object of his desire is basically served to him on a silver platter right now. 

„Torao,“ Luffy whines, voice high and tiny. Law almost feels bad for him, „It’s so cold!“ 

Law slaps Luffy’s hand away from the shower faucet, „Let me,“ he says, turning the handle in the other direction instead. 

Luffy lets out a relieved and happy sigh when the water finally starts getting hot, his hand immediately reaching for Law’s body wash. Even though the shower is big enough for the two of them, it’s still a tight fit and no matter how he positions himself he can always feel the heat of Luffy’s body, his soft tanned skin so painstakingly close to him. 

He feels treacherous warmth rush into his face at the thought of Luffy washing himself next to him, perfect body lathering up in soap, dripping and lovely and the stuff out of Law’s wettest dreams. He knows his face is flushed red, but he hopes Luffy blames it on the rising steam of the shower instead. 

Just to make sure though, he keeps his back to him as much as he can and fears that if he doesn’t, another, more visible problem, will be unavoidable. He focuses on washing his hair instead and prays that this will be over without any unwanted incidents. 

He lets out a content sigh, the warm water feels amazing on his skin, especially after a taxing work out like that. It soothes his aching muscles and manages to make him relax at least some.

„Hey,“ Luffy speaks up, reaching over to hand Law the bottle of his body wash. „Here. Gimme the shampoo?“ 

Law wordlessly grits his teeth, but turns around to thrust the plastic bottle into Luffy’s waiting hands, accepting the exchange. 

And fuck, turning around was a terrible unwise decision. Law bites his tongue and has a hard time tearing his eyes away from Luffy. The boy really does look like a wet dream come true, standing underneath the spray of water like that. His dark hair plastered to his forehead, naked and beautiful and God-...Everything about him is perfect. 

How the hell is Law supposed to not want him? How is Law supposed to have all of that presented in front of him and remain emotionless? 

He feels heat surge in his stomach, hot as fire, deep, dark, and unsettling. 

It’s desire, plain and simple, eating him up and leaving him starving.

He wants Luffy. Fuck, he _wants._

What’s stopping him? 

He could do it now. Now is perfect. 

He could push Luffy up against the wet tiles of the shower wall, could slide his hands up that naked chest, claim those pretty lips with his own, kiss Luffy senseless before he could even think about protesting. He could let his hands slide down to that round ass, grab, hold, possess.

He could easily grind into the small body, render him motionless, trapped between him and the wall, manipulate the boy into wanting it, wanting _him._

He could turn Luffy around, finger him open, until he’s wet and loose, ready to be taken. He could have him right here, pound him into the shower wall, panting and soaked up, whimpering and sobbing for Law’s cock like the depraved little thing he is. 

God, all he wants is Luffy. He wants to lay claim to his body, push into his tight hole until Luffy can’t handle it anymore, until Law fucks him into a mindless mess, beautiful and needy, and absolutely _his_.

Fuck, the filthy things he wants do to him, he-

„Torao?“ Luffy’s voice snaps him out of it. He sounds and looks concerned, dark brown eyes laced with worry and it’s the worst thing in the world, „Are you okay?“

Fuck. 

Law tears his eyes away from him and turns around quickly, wishes he could turn the water cold again. Fuck. _Fuck_. He needs to get out of here before he loses his goddamn mind and does something incredibly stupid. 

„Yeah,“ Law croaks out, when he realizes he hasn’t given Luffy a verbal answer yet, „I’m fine, just exhausted.“ 

He feels Luffy’s gaze on his back, heavy and almost palpable. Unsettling. 

„Okay.“ Luffy just says and Law lets out a deep breath. 

He closes his eyes. The sound of the water hitting the tiles rushes through his ears. 

_Fuck._

\--

  
  


Luffy’s uncharacteristically quiet when they get out of the shower. 

He silently towels his damp black hair off in Law’s bedroom and when Law hands him a pair of sweatpants and a worn shirt out of his drawer, he accepts Law’s clothes with nothing but a small mumbled „Thanks.“

Law wonders if he’s been too obvious, if the hunger and the want has been written all over his face, if Luffy saw it in his eyes, the way he desires him, how stark it is, how dark. How some of it still lingers, buzzing through Law’s veins, even now. 

Luffy’s observant when he wants to be, so perhaps Law’s inner turmoil wasn’t as completely lost to him as Law hoped it to be. Law feels guilt burn in deep in his stomach. He feels ashamed for his thoughts, for his lack of self-restraint. Law had almost lost it back there and fucked it up. 

He’d never felt this sort of sexual pull towards another person just by _looking_ at them. 

Fuck, just what is Luffy doing to him?

He’s never been so completely driven by lust that it had clouded his mind like that. He’s a rational person, emotions, no matter which kind, don’t just _overcome_ him. He has always prided himself in being above all that, had belittled men who would claim that it’s hard to keep their hands to themselves. 

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. 

He gets distracted from his thoughts when Luffy finally appears out of his bedroom. 

Law’s clothes are, as predicted, too big on him. His old and worn out grey _Harvard University_ shirt hangs so loosely on Luffy’s smaller frame that he’s practically swimming in it. He had to tie the strings of the pants up tightly around his waist, so they didn't slide down his narrow hips. 

He looks extremely cute and incredibly fucking _ridiculous_ at the same time. Law can’t help but grin in amusement. 

„What.“ Luffy asks sharply, and the raised eyebrows just _dare_ Law to say something. 

Law swallows back a laugh, „Nothing,“ he says quickly, refrains from making fun of him for his own physical well being. Luffy looks like he would punch him in the mouth if given half the chance. He changes the topic before he catches Luffy’s ire, „Do you want to order Chinese?“ 

Luffy brightens up again, a small smile appearing on his face at the prospect of food, „Sounds good,“ he agrees, joining Law on the couch. He pulls his legs up, sitting cross legged, „You gotta pay though, I don’t have any money.“ 

„Sure,“ Law shrugs. He hands Luffy his iPhone where the delivery service app is already on screen, „Here. Go wild.“ 

„Awesome,“ Luffy grins, satisfied, „I’m starving,“ he says.

Luffy will probably order a fuck-ton for the both of them, but he doesn’t really mind. After the taxing work out, he’s incredibly hungry as well and it’s not like the food would go to waste. Something like leftovers just doesn’t exist in Luffy’s world. 

Luffy leans a little closer to him, angling the screen in his direction so Law can see what he’s doing, add his own meal or object if he sees fit. Law instantly feels soothed by the action. Luffy’s sitting close enough to him that their knees are touching. He’s still here in Law’s apartment, wanting to eat dinner with him. Even if he noticed something off with Law back in the shower, it didn’t seem to make him want to run for the hills. 

Law feels some of the guilt subside. Maybe Luffy didn’t even notice his strange behavior, or perhaps Luffy even _wanted_ him to act out his thoughts.

He swallows hard, suddenly his throat feels dry. Just imagining that Luffy could want him back, starts a fire in him that threatens to burn him alive.

„All done,“ Luffy says, happily grinning at Law and giving his phone back, „I hope they don’t take long!“ He sighs and rubs at his stomach. 

„They usually don’t,“ Law answers, checking the time, „Half an hour tops,“ he says. 

Luffy flops down on the couch, lying with his head on Law’s thigh now, using it as a makeshift pillow. No reservations. Maybe his unusual quietness is just because he’s hungry and exhausted and Law worried for nothing. 

„I liked running with you today,“ Luffy suddenly speaks up, looking up at Law from where he’s getting comfortable, „Even if you’re super slow.“ 

„I’m _not_ slow,“ Law stresses and tries to ignore just how close Luffy’s pretty face is to his crotch. Jesus, this boy is _killing_ him. „I just run in an efficient way that makes it easy for me to—„ 

„Yeah, yeah, whatever,“ Luffy waves him off, and god, he’s _rude_ , isn’t he. „We should do it again sometime, is all I’m sayin’.“ 

Law huffs out a breath, „Sure,“ he says, smirking down at Luffy teasingly, „If you’re able to keep up next time.“

„What’s that supposed to mean?“ Luffy asks, a frown appearing on his face, brows furrowing together, „I run faster than you. You’re a _snail_.“

„You might be faster, but halfway through, who was the one panting in exhaustion _?_ “ Law asks, lifting his eyebrows in challenge. 

Of course, Luffy can’t resist taking the bait, „I didn’t!“ he argues quickly, „I was barely breaking a sweat!“ 

„Liar,“ Law chuckles, deeply amused, „You were panting like a _dog._ “

Now Luffy sits up again, obviously riled up by Law’s taunting, „I did not!“ 

„You run around like an untrained _puppy_ and then—„

Law seriously should have seen the cushion to his face coming. 

He makes a noise in surprise at the sudden impact, stunned that Luffy would even dare to throw one of the throw pillows into his face. When he’s over the shock, he levels a glare at the younger man. 

Luffy’s laughing loudly, clutching another pillow to his chest and oh, the goddamn _nerve_. 

„Oh man,“ Luffy cackles childishly, „Your _face!_ “

Law rolls his eyes at him. He’s honestly too grown up to play Luffy’s games and he’s not going to let the younger one bait him into a silly little pillow fight. 

Seriously, how old are they? He’s an _adult_ , for god’s sake. They both are.

So Law just gives a light scoff, „Aren’t you a cheeky thing,“ he drawls. 

Law shouldn’t be as caught off guard as he is, when Luffy strikes again, smashing the pillow right into his face and collapsing into a fit of giggles when Law lets out a nonplussed noise in protest at the collision. 

„You think so?“ Luffy presses out in between bursts of laughter, holding onto his stomach. 

Okay, screw being the mature one.

„You asked for it,“ Law threatens before he goes in for the kill. 

Law picks the throw pillow next to him as his weapon of choice then proceeds to take one of Luffy’s ankles, pulling the boy closer to himself, making him lie flat on the couch.

Luffy kicks and laughs and tries to wind out of Law’s tight grip, letting out a high helpless shriek, „Torao, wait!“ 

Law scoffs, let’s Luffy’s ankle go and roughly shoves the pillow into the boy’s face. He hears muffled laughter and Luffy trying to smack the pillow away, but Law’s not about to give in. 

„Torao!“ Luffy laughs, voice muffled, „I’m gonna suffocate!“ 

Law rolls his eyes at Luffy being so dramatic, but moves off his face. Luffy grins up at him, his eyes bright, his hair a mess and Law can tell that he’s feeling all kinds of triumphant for being able to pull Law into this little game of his. 

Law has barely the time to think that Luffy, with his heavy breath, flushed cheeks and wild hair, is a sight to behold before a foot harshly kicks him off the couch. His butt hits the carpet with a soft thud and then a second later Luffy is on him, trying to pin him to the floor.

Damn him for being so distracting.

„Don’t even try,“ Luffy huffs out when Law tries to get up from under Luffy. „I’m stronger than you!“ 

Law can hear the wide confident grin in his voice even if he doesn’t see it and lets out a mocking laugh, because what the hell? Luffy’s _tiny_. There’s no way he’s stronger than him. 

They scuffle around the carpet, trying to gain the upper hand over one each other, to pin the other right down as quickly as possible all the while Law wonders just how the fuck he got to this point.

He is a little shocked to find that Luffy is much stronger than he looks, and most importantly he doesn’t seem to run out of strength or energy either, while Law’s muscles were arching even before he decided to roll around the floor, trying to fight off a rampant Luffy.

Luffy’s simply vigorous and Law can’t seem to win this until he finds out a simple but effective weakness: Luffy’s ticklish as hell. 

Law gets his hands on Luffy’s sides, right along his waist, and _digs in_.

Luffy lets out a breathless howl of laughter, almost collapsing on top of Law and curling in on himself helplessly, but nothing protects him from Law’s unforgiving hands. 

„ _Stop!_ “ Luffy gasps out, kicking and pleading, „Stop! _Please!_ “ 

„It’s a little too late to beg for mercy, isn’t it?“ Law asks, hiding an amused chuckle. 

„ _Torao!_ “ Luffy presses out, laughing and desperate, completely out of breath, „Not fair!“

Law doesn’t really care what’s fair or not, and he doesn’t see any reason to stop either, not until he’s on top of the boy and got Luffy pinned right down, holding his wrists down to the carpet, just like Luffy tried to do to him.

Luffy squirms in his grip, looking up at him with glassy eyes, a little teary from laughing so hard, his flushed cheeks and oh god. 

Law didn’t think this through. 

Luffy laying underneath him like that, trapped in Law’s grip, breathing heavy, his face red with exhaustion and his hair a tousled mess; he’s so beautiful it manages to take Law’s breath away. 

He feels the heat of Luffy’s body burning him up where they’re touching, feels Luffy’s gaze on him like a weight, heavy, compelling, pulling him towards him like a magnet and he can’t stop.

He’s never felt a simple attraction run so deeply and he realizes it’s not just that, it can’t be just that, not when the desire to keep Luffy near hits so close to his core, not when his heart painfully lurches inside his chest, excited and anxious, threatening to claw its way out.

Attraction is easy but absolutely nothing feels easy about this. 

Luffy manages to capture his attention in a way that nobody has ever been able to before. Law’s felt lust before, passion even, but not like this. Nothing like this. Something so gravitating, inescapable, and so far from superficial. 

He knows it only lasts seconds, but to him it feels like hours, gazing down into Luffy’s warm eyes, taking in the features of the boy that overwhelms him so completely. 

He wants to feel Luffy close, he wants to kiss him and sigh against his mouth, wants Luffy to know how he feels, communicate it all with a simple press of their lips, because words just seem to fail him. 

He feels Luffy’s warm heavy breath hitting his face and his self-control goes like water crashing through a broken dam. His hands squeeze Luffy’s wrists in his grip, helplessly looking for something to hold onto while he closes his eyes and leans down, ready to find out if his feelings are shared. 

Their breaths mix into one, and he can barely think, excited for what is to come, so close, just one simple heartbeat away.

But instead of feeling soft lips wield underneath his own he feels a sharp jab to his face and it snaps his head back roughly.

He reels away from Luffy, „Ow,“ he presses out, holding his hand over his face, not sure what’s even going on, feeling dazed, confused and disoriented. 

He blinks through the sudden burst of pain, exploding and numbing everything else. 

„What the fuck,“ is the next thing he mutters, more to himself than to Luffy. 

„Sorry, _sorry_ ,“ Luffy hastily says, and his hand goes up as if he wants to clutch at Law’s fingers but then he hesitates, holds back from touching him at all, „We were _fighting_! I didn’t mean to- _shit_ , you’re _bleeding_ , I’m-"

„ _What?_ “ Law asks sharply. 

Luffy’s mouth snaps shut immediately, his brown eyes wide, his features startled, and slowly but surely the staggering realization sets in.

Luffy hit him in the face. 

He tried to kiss him and _Luffy hit him in the face._

He feels a telling warm wetness in the palm of his hand, but he doesn’t pay it any mind, too focused on the way his heart is clenching together so painfully inside his chest that it almost feels more bruised than his face. He’s never been rejected this harshly and completely and it hurt. Fuck. It _hurt_.

„What the fuck,“ he mumbles again, absolutely horrified.

He can’t bring himself to meet Luffy’s eyes at all, as uncomfortable silence settles over them. He picks himself up from the floor, trying not to look as hurt and vulnerable as he feels as he makes his way to his bathroom, leaving Luffy alone in the living room.

The bathroom is still warm and humid from their shower and he’s a little taken aback when he sees his battered face in the mirror. 

Wow, Luffy really didn’t want to be kissed by him, did he? Luffy absolutely didn’t hold back letting him know just how repulsive he thinks it is. 

Awesome. At least Law knows where he’s at now. Something uncomfortable and heavy settles in his stomach, a weight that seems almost impossible to carry, pushing him down. He’s angry, at himself for losing control, at Luffy for stress testing it in the first place, for rejecting him so utterly and painfully, for making a fool out of him.

And now Law just ruined it all. There’s no going back. 

He wanted too much and it fucked everything up. 

Law can’t even think about what just happened without feeling a little sick. He wishes the floor would open up and just swallow him alive, so he can lick his wounds in peace. He wanted to kiss Luffy. Luffy hit him in the face for it. A simple ‘no’ would have been sufficient, but apparently, Luffy wanted to make sure that Law understood his message loud and clear, and there’s nothing he can say to make the situation better, not in the slightest. 

Utterly frustrated, he buries his face in his hands, ignoring the sharp burst of pain when his nose makes contact with his palm. 

„God,“ he breathes out, mortified. „God _damn it_.“

How is he supposed to fix this? How can he ever face Luffy again? How should he apologize?

Suddenly he gets ripped out of his thoughts by the stark bang of his front door closing shut and he can’t help but flinch a little at the loud noise and the realization that Luffy has just fled his apartment. 

Law can’t stop his heart from bleeding a little.


	2. two

“Do you always smoke after a good fuck?” 

Law shrugs, puts the cigarette between his lips and takes a deep drag. It immediately sets something in him loose. He generously holds the almost empty package out for Kid to take one as well. 

“No thanks,” Kid refuses and shakes his head slightly, his flaming red hair falling into his face, “That shit fuckin’ kills you.”

Law just shrugs again. So do many things after all. 

He props up his pillows to lean back against the headboard, sheets pooling around his naked waist. Next to him, Kid does the same. 

“So,” Kid starts slowly, and Law wonders if he ever shuts up, “I don’t really know how this works. I don’t do this sorta shit usually, you know?”

Law glances at him, slowly taking another drag from his cigarette. Kid looks chiseled like damn marble in the low light of Law’s bedroom. Like a fucking greek god or something. He must hit the gym often to have such a toned body, bulging biceps and trained six-pack. 

Everything about him is massive. 

He’s nothing like Luffy. 

Luffy, who Law imagines just fits perfectly into his side. 

“You fuck, you leave,” Law explains, drily. 

Kid snorts, “Charming,” he mumbles. 

Law says nothing, puts his burning cigarette onto the small silver ashtray on his bedside table, before slowly climbing out of bed, leaving the stuffy sheets behind. He walks towards his new dresser, naked as the day he was born. He hears Kid making an appreciative noise but he ignores him in favor of putting some fresh underwear on.

He throws a shirt on as well, “I’m going to smoke on the balcony,” he explains, as he takes his cigarette back between his two fingers and slips into the pair of old adidas slippers standing near his bed. “You’re welcome to join me.”

As predicted, Kid doesn’t need to be told twice, putting on his shirt and his boxer shorts before following him. 

The fresh air feels nice on his sweaty skin, and he lets out a small sigh in relief. The lights of the city illuminate the night, so bright, that Law can’t even make out a single star on the horizon. The almost full moon is in plain sight though and Law glances to it for a second, taking it in before looking at Kid. 

He picked the younger man up at the club because he bears no resemblance to Luffy, because he’s so strikingly different in appearance and mannerism that Law hoped it would distract him from his wandering thoughts. 

It didn’t work though, he could fuck Kid stupid and still only think about _him_.

Luffy, who he hadn’t seen in almost six weeks now. Luffy who’d easily wormed his way into his life and then stormed right out of it and never came back. Luffy who’d backhanded him after Law’s hilariously pathetic attempt to kiss him. Though the bruise is gone, Law still feels the rejection of it so deeply, still feels a lump forming in his throat when he thinks about it. 

And now? He hasn’t heard from Luffy. Complete radio silence. 

“Damn, this balcony is _high_ , huh?” Kid says, peering down over the edge of the railing and letting out a low whistle at the height. 

Law just hums and proceeds to sit down, cross legged on the wooden floor, back leaning against the metal. It’s getting warmer, the air becoming more hot and humid by the day, trapped by the concrete of the city. Law really should invest in some chairs if he wants to spend some late evenings out here. 

“You’re not very talkative, mh?” Kid states, glancing down at him. He pushes his red hair out of his face as he lets himself fall down next to him, exchanging the view of the skyscrapers and lights for the plain sight into his barely lit apartment. 

The neon light in Law’s kitchen flickers. The sirens of a police car cut through the air. 

“It’s late,” Law answers quietly. He takes a drag of his barely lit cigarette and thinks about smoking a second one, “I don’t like chit-chat.” 

Kid snorts, “No shit,” he says, “I mean, don’t get me wrong, yeah? Tall, dark, handsome _and_ mysterious. I’m not complaining.”

Now it’s Law’s turn to let out a light snort. Kid’s _ridiculous_.

“We already fucked,” Law can’t help but grin a little, “You can stop flirting with me now.” 

“It’s second nature,” Kid gives a simple shrug, he’s clearly not bothered or turned off by Law’s bluntness. Law can appreciate that, at least. “And you know what? Maybe I’m hoping this ain’t a one-time thing. So adding a little sugar, can’t hurt.” 

Law glances at Kid, busies himself with inhaling smoke so he doesn’t have to answer right away. The sex was good, not mind-blowing, but certainly satisfactory. The best sex he had in a long while, actually. It’s not Kid’s fault that Law’s so stuck on another guy. 

“I’m not looking to date anyone right now,” Law decides to say, decides to be honest. It’s only fair. He’s not one to create false hope. 

“Cool, cool, me neither,” Kid answers straight away, almost like he expected that answer. Law gives him a doubtful look though, doesn’t really believe him, “What? I ain’t lyin’ okay? I just need someone to help me unwind, you know? University is killin’ my ass, I got no time for relationships.” 

Law lifts his eyebrows at the presented information, “What’s your major?” 

“Engineering,” Kid says, not without a short amount of pride, “Took me a while to get the scholarships together, but now I’m in, and they ain’t gonna get rid of me anytime soon.” 

Law just nods, feels some weird sort of companionship. Getting into University is hell. 

“I used to be a medical student,” Law offers, “Specializing in cardiology.”

“Dope,” Kid smiles, “You work at a hospital then?” 

Law just nods. He takes one last drag of his cigarette before putting it out on the metal railing and then flicking the bud down onto the streets. 

Kid frowns a little, “The world ain’t your ashtray, you know?”

Law huffs out a breath, standing up to make his way back into the apartment, “Fuck a tree then,” he mumbles.

A sly grin appears on Kid’s face, “I would rather fuck _you_ ,” he retorts, 

Law glances back at him, takes the younger man in once again, his bright red hair, his masculine features, the light skin and piercing eyes.

He’s all hard edges and carries absolutely none of the softness that Luffy represents for him. 

“That,” Law says slowly, “can be arranged.” 

\--

Kid’s still there in the morning, because _of course_ he can’t take a damn hint. 

Law sighs and pours himself a cup of black coffee. He’s not much of a morning person, especially not before his first dose of caffeine. 

“Mornin’ sunshine,” Kid says from where he's sitting at Law’s small kitchen table. He sounds more cheery than anyone is allowed to at this ungodly hour. 

“Kiss my ass,” Law just grumbles, sitting down across from the taller man and spreading out his newspaper. He likes early sunday mornings usually. He likes the calmness, the quietness of it. 

There’s not much of that with Kid around. 

“Would love to,” Kid just answers, because apparently he can’t stop with the cheesy lines, “But breakfast first. You got somethin’ other than black coffee?” 

Law lifts his eyebrows, then gives a slight nod towards his fridge, “Eggs,” he says, “Feel free.”

“Awesome,” Kid grins. He makes his way over to the fridge and sticks his head into it, “You got a pan somewhere?” 

He seems like the sort of person that is instantly comfortable anywhere he goes. He doesn’t need time to get used to his surroundings. Not like Law, who always feels like he takes up too much space wherever he goes. It’s not like Law’s not confident, but perhaps he’s just a little bit more careful of the places he puts himself in, fearing that he doesn’t belong. It’s not as much shyness, as introversion. 

Law motions towards a cupboard and then watches Kid as he skillfully cracks some eggs into the pan. Kid looks somewhat different from last night, preparing breakfast with ease, a little less dangerous, a bit more approachable. He looks less like the kind of guy that would beat someone else up. It suits him, Law thinks. 

“Sunny side up?” Kid asks.

Law just gives a short nod in answer. It’s been a while since someone made him breakfast in the morning. He doesn’t know how he feels about it yet. He silently takes a sip from his coffee and watches as Kid navigates through his kitchen like he’s been doing it countless times before.

“You’re not a morning person, huh?” Kid questions. He puts a plate in front of Law and adds two perfectly done eggs onto it, “If you want me outta your hair just say so, yeah? No need to beat around the bush.”

Law’s not a fan of many words, not in general and especially not this early in the morning. He takes hold of Kid’s shirt, and tugs him down into a soft kiss. Actions speak much louder after all. He hopes it gets the message across. 

Kid huffs out a small laugh against his mouth, his large hand coming up to hold the side of Law’s face, thumb sliding over his jawline. Law feels his skin warm up a little. 

The kiss is nice and short, easy and can’t be compared to the way they kissed last night, starving, rushed and single-minded. This is simple and comfortable and something inside of him arches. 

God, he wants this. He wants early Sunday mornings, softly traded kisses, burning black coffee and shared breakfast. He wants it all so badly. He wants it with Luffy. 

The sudden yearning makes him cut the kiss short, and he can’t bring himself to meet Kid’s eyes, when he tears himself away from him. He focuses on the food in front of him instead, taking the fork by his right side and wills himself to eat. He’s lost his appetite.

“Yeah,” Kid breaths, more to himself than to Law, “Yeah, okay. I get it.”

Law doesn’t think he does.

\--

Law enjoys being alone. 

When he comes home after his shifts from the hospital, overworked, exhausted and tired, dead on his feet, he loves calming down from the stress of his workplace in the utter quietness of his home. 

He likes drinking his coffee alone, reading alone, smoking a cigarette alone. He enjoys the peacefulness, he likes being left alone with his thoughts. No interruption. He’s in good company with himself. 

Being alone is a luxury. Being lonely though, is not. 

Law hadn’t realized just how isolated he'd started to feel after moving away from his home town until Luffy crashed into his life. Luffy had managed to force him out of the convenient solitude of his apartment, to discover new places, to see something besides the subway that takes him to work every day. He simply misses having Luffy around, dragging him through the city. He misses Luffy’s smile, his contagious laugh and his dumb jokes, the easy companionship, he misses listening to Luffy’s stories and adventures, talking about everything and nothing at all. 

Law would kill for the feeling of meeting Luffy all over again. 

Law sighs tiredly, stares into the darkness of his bedroom, the only light illuminating his room is his phone display. Every time it buzzes he hopes it’s Luffy missing him too. 

It’s in vain though. Luffy doesn’t reach out to him. And yeah, he could text Luffy first, sure, but what would that change? He deserves the silence Luffy makes him suffer in. He’d left his apartment for a reason, after all. 

Luffy couldn’t bear to stay.

Law’s heart arches painfully inside his chest at the thought. He wonders how he’d let it come so far. 

He can’t even remember the last time he’d lost sleep over someone else.

  
  


-

Law doesn’t tell any of his friends what happened, not even a single word, but he guesses, four weeks of hearing absolutely nothing from him is out of character, even for him. 

“You usually make sure we know you’re alive at least, you know?” Shachi asks, standing in the doorway of Law’s apartment. He holds a bottle of whiskey up and grins a little sheepishly, “I got worried, okay? I thought maybe something happened.” 

He’s not wrong, but Law’s not willing to talk about it yet, to put it into words. It’s humiliating and it pains him to think about it. He doesn’t even know where he should start either. Everything happened in a blur. Even now, he can’t fully comprehend how quickly Luffy had gotten past his usual defenses. 

Law nods and motions for Shachi to come in, “Good to see you,” he says and means it, “Where’s your better half?” 

“Peng’s working,” Shachi shrugs lightly, carelessly kicking his sneakers off and into a corner, “He’s been doing night shifts lately. It kinda sucks.”

Law hums in understanding. He knows all about night shifts. He walks into his living room, Shachi on his heels. “You wanna open that bottle straight away?” he asks. 

“Sure,” Shachi nods and Law’s grateful. After all, Law has always been a professional when it came to drowning his sorrows. 

Law gets two of his good whiskey glasses out of his cabinet and follows that up by opening his freezer and getting some ice cubes out. “Do you want yours mixed?” Law asks as he fills their glasses, “I like mine plain on ice, but I’ve got some soda stocked.” 

“Mh,” Shachi makes a noise, contemplating the offer, “What about iced tea?” 

“Sure,” Law nods, getting the tea out of his fridge. 

Law’s not much of a soft drink fan. He doesn’t like the sugary taste. Come to think of it, he only brought the sweet drinks for Luffy anyway, who always used to complain rather loudly about the content of Law’s fridge. Well, it doesn’t seem like Luffy will come around anytime soon; or ever again, really. Law doesn't need to save these up for him anymore.

“What are you thinking about?” Shachi suddenly asks, snapping Law out of his painful thoughts. 

“Huh?” Law asks, a little bewildered by the sudden question. He gets drinks out of the fridge to busy himself before answering. “Nothing. Why?” 

Shachi squints at him, “You made that face,” he observes. 

“What face?”

“Your depressive face.”

Law pauses while pouring the drink, then says, “That’s just my face.” 

“No,” Shachi shakes his head. He sounds and looks worried and Law appreciates the sentiment and all, but really. There’s nothing to talk about. “No, it’s not just your face.”

“Leave it,” Law says, not mean, but firm. He’s a little annoyed that Shachi is able to read him so well. He hands him his iced tea ruined whiskey, “Drink your alcohol.” 

That’s what they always have been good at, sharing drinks. Shachi is one of his oldest friends and they’ve done this many times. Shared drinks over teenage crushes, burnt down dreams and college stress. Have shared a bottle of whiskey, vodka, beer, whatever they had at the moment, while talking about heartbreak and bad music, not fully there, but still understanding each other. 

“Cheers,” Shachi mumbles. He takes a small sip and immediately follows that up with a small shudder, “Ugh,” he makes a face, “The first taste is always the worse.”

“Wuss,” Law snorts. Shachi never liked hard liquor. Law likes whiskey just fine, it burns a little, sure. He kinda enjoys it though, “Why buy it if you don’t like it?” 

“Because _you_ like it, asshole,” Shachi rolls his eyes while he moves past Law and towards the big couch. “You’re the one having a crisis, not me.”

“It’s not a _crisis_ ,” Law stresses. He follows Shachi and puts his record player on as he goes, just for some nice background noise. He hopes it will distract Shachi from him and his... _crisis_ , for the lack of a better word. 

“You haven’t answered any text messages in _weeks_ ,” Shachi points out. He’s gotten comfy on the couch, sitting cross-legged and leaning against the throw pillows. He’s balancing his whiskey on his knee, holding it loosely in his right hand. Law already sees his couch ruined. 

“It’s _my_ phone,” Law mumbles, as he sits down next to him. He’s a little irritated that Shachi’s so noisy, but not surprised, “I can do whatever I want with it.” 

If Law’s completely honest he’s been avoiding looking at his phone for a while now. 

It messes with him, waiting for a message from Luffy, only to be left disappointed again and again and again. Every glance at that blank screen makes a new wave of hurt and regret crash over him. And even now, a small part of him doesn’t want to accept that he’s never going to hear from Luffy again and he’s got no one to blame but himself. 

Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it? 

In the background, he hears Bill Withers’ velvet vocals, singing how there ain’t no sunshine in his life without his girl. Law hates that he can relate, hates that ever since Luffy left, Law’s seen nothing but dirty gray rain, rain, rain. 

He quickly takes a sip from his whiskey. It burns in his throat, burns his insides and Law hopes it burns everything until there’s nothing left of him. 

It doesn’t matter now. 

“You’re making that depressive face again,” Shachi mumbles, this time a little quieter. He twirls the whiskey in his glass, absentmindedly. “C’mon, Trafalgar. What the hell is going on?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Law says, because he doesn’t. He doesn’t want to talk. He wants to drink. “I don’t wanna _think_ about it.”

What good does it do? 

He downs his whiskey in one go and gets up to pour himself another one. Fuck it all to hell. He doesn’t have work tomorrow, he can drink himself to death. Nobody gives a shit if he does. And now he’s pitying himself. Great. Law thought he’d had that angry self-hate phase when he was 17. He really doesn’t need a little bit of heartache bringing that back. 

“So... you admit that there’s something to talk about?” Shachi asks and damn him. 

Damn him. Noisy brat. 

“Damn you,” Law mumbles. 

He grabs the bottle of whiskey, easily snaps the lid off with his thumb and swiftly pours himself another glass. He takes his glass and the bottle with him when he joins Shachi on the couch again. Shachi raises his eyebrows but doesn’t comment on it. 

Law side-eyes him, “You’re not letting this go, are you?” 

“Absolutely not,” Shachi says.

Well, then. Okay. Alright. Let’s get this over with. He doesn’t feel ready for this. 

“I met someone, okay?” he says quickly. The words feel like acid on his tongue. Luffy’s not just _someone_. “I thought it was going somewhere, right? Thought we’re heading somewhere. But I was fucking wrong and he rejected me. Now we don’t talk. That’s all. Shit happens.”

Shachi stays silent for a moment. He takes a sip from his whiskey, and Law hates every second that passes without either of them saying something. Law’s words hang in the air, ugly and bitter. 

The truth usually is. 

“I’m trying to move on,” Law adds, wistful. 

His guts clench together painfully. _This_ is why he didn’t want to talk about it. It fucks him up. It creates nothing but chaos inside of him.

Shachi says, “But you’re not.” 

“I’m _trying_.”

It’s not that easy, he wants to add. You don’t just feel the things Law feels, so deep and burning, and then move on about it as if it didn’t shift your entire universe. If Shachi ever felt the way Law does right now he would _know_. He would understand. 

“What’s their name?” Shachi asks, at last. 

Law swallows. It hurts. “Luffy.” 

It’s damn unfair how his heart gets a little messed up even just saying his name.

“What happened?”

Law tells him. He tells him how Luffy came crashing into his life, how he effortlessly took up so much space in Law’s head, that Law couldn’t stop thinking about him. He told him about the attraction, how deep it was, how starkly he felt towards Luffy, how strong the feelings grew over time. 

How no matter what had happened, he couldn’t have held himself back from wanting to kiss Luffy. 

“And then he punched me in the face,” Law wraps the story up with a sigh, emptying another glass of whiskey. He needs another one. Damn, he needs another one. He tries to pour himself another drink only to find the bottle is empty. Fuck. 

He lights up a cigarette instead and exchanges one vice with the other. 

“He punched you in the face?” Shachi repeats in disbelief. His voice has turned slightly slurred. But Shachi’s always been a lightweight. “And then he left? What the hell. That’s awful.” 

“We were fighting,” Law clarifies. He takes a deep drag of his cigarette before he explains further, “Like, play-fighting, you know? With pillows and stuff.”

Shachi chuckles, clearly amused. He raises an eyebrow at him, “That’s some gay shit, Trafalgar,” the grin on his face widens as he says it. 

Law snorts out a sad laugh, feeling dizzy and drunk and yet it doesn’t manage to overthrow any of the empty loneliness he feels when thinking about Luffy. Only Luffy can make him feel like that, so completely lost. Like Law’s not fully himself without him here. 

“He was suddenly just _there_ , you know?” Law says, a bit desperate for Shachi to understand. “Suddenly he was there, and it was just so _easy_ to get used to it.” Law closes his eyes, feels frustrated with it all, “Fuck.” he cusses, “I don’t know how I could let myself fall for him so quickly,” It doesn’t matter now how pathetic he sounds, how clueless, how out of his depth. “It’s that goddamn _smile_ , alright? He smiles at you and it’s _over_.” 

Shachi doesn’t say anything to that and Law looks away from him, feels embarrassed by how emotional he’s getting. He’s usually someone who prides himself in great self-control.

See? This is what Luffy does to him. He wrecks him. 

“I miss him,” Law admits quietly.

Shachi tilts his head a little, “Do you love him?”

The question hits him to the core and Law swallows hard.

He quickly takes another drag of his cigarette, fills his lungs with nicotine. His entire chest constricts. He feels a little sick with it. 

He’d only ever allowed himself to think about it fleetingly, a passing thought here and there. He’s seen Luffy’s lips curl up in a warm smile, directed only at him, and it’s so special and he’d thought ‘oh, hey, i love that smile,’ or the way Luffy laughs, Law loves that light sound. He laughs and Law feels it vibrating through his heart, and he guesses yeah, that’s love. 

It’s never been so out in the open like that. The truth, vulnerable and obvious, hanging in the air. 

He loves Luffy. 

He loves Luffy and he still couldn’t make him stay. 

Maybe he’s just damned to be alone. Law tries not to pity himself but it’s hard. Who else is going to, right? Law doesn’t have anyone caring for him like that. Maybe he’s just one of those people that never really manage to connect with someone else and when they do, it’s not meant to last. 

They’re never able to find someone that can love them back. 

“Yes,” Law rasps, voice choked up from the whiskey and the cigarette and the raw emotions threatening to overcome him, “I love him.” 

“Shit,” Shachi says, because, yeah, what else can you say to that?

What’s left to say?

“Yeah,” Law hums. Something inside of him tears, “Shit.”

It doesn’t matter now. 

\--

Law wakes up the next morning with a persisting headache. 

He eats two painkillers for breakfast and feels a little sick to the stomach. The whiskey was a damn stupid idea and his living room looks a mess. The bottle of alcohol is empty, the ashtray is overflowing. 

Better clean that up. Law wishes he’s had the energy to do it. He usually likes his place to be tidy, but recently he can’t bring himself to care much. It doesn’t feel that important in the grand scheme of things. 

He lets himself fall down on his couch instead, listens to the rain from outside. He's tired even though he just woke up. Next to him, his phone buzzes, informing him of a new message. Law hates that a treacherous, desperate, little part of him still yearns for it to be Luffy. 

It’s Eustass. Law hates himself even more when his heart sinks. Who else did he expect? Right. Hope dies last but Law wonders how long it takes until his misguided longing is completely dead and buried. 

_“What are you doing today??”_ The text message reads, and Law frowns. He quickly texts back a simple, but honest, _“I got a hangover.”_

Kid’s answer comes promptly, _“Orgasms help with that.”_

Law snorts softly. The promise of sex is an enticing one, he’s got to admit. He’s not above using Kid to stop _thinking_. That’s honestly all he’s good for. 

He makes for a fine distraction. 

Law doubts Kid minds. 

\--

“Oh, god.”

Kid uses his strong hands to successfully press his hips into the sheets, his mouth on Law’s hard cock a second later. Law lets his hands slide into that flaming red hair, eyes closing with a blissed out sigh. 

“ _Fuck_ ,” he curses as Kid swallows him down. 

Kid’s talented mouth welcomes him, the sensations of soft, warm and wet causing Law to let out a groan, vision blurring in pleasure. Kid’s certainly good at what he does, eager to please and he doesn’t mind if Law demandingly pushes his head down, forcing him to take in more.

Law keeps his eyes closed, tries his hardest to not let his thoughts drift to someone else. 

Luffy is always in the back of his mind though, even when Law is receiving one of the best blowjobs of his goddamn life. God, Law can’t even fathom to think about what it would feel like to have Luffy this close, to have Luffy serving him like this, mouth full of Law, looking up through his lashes, looking all kinds of pretty while he’s got Law’s cock in his throat. 

_Goddamn_. 

It only takes a second of imagining Luffy on his knees for him before he comes completely undone. His fingers tightly clench into Kid’s hair, by their own accord, when he comes in an unpredictable rush, making him feel absolutely euphoric and extremely vulnerable. 

“Shit,” he breathes out, when he feels Kid swallowing around him, licking up his cock like it’s the most delicious treat he’d ever had. He opens his eyes to catch Kid swiping his tongue over his lips, a dirty grin on his face. 

“What?” Law huffs out.

“You came fast,” Kid’s grin only widens, “I’m that good, huh?” 

Law grumbles something into the pillow, hiding his sweaty face from Kid’s view. 

He feels guilty thinking about Luffy. 

Luffy, who’d already made clear that even the idea of Law kissing him completely disgusts him. And yet here Law is, unable to keep him from his mind, unable to hold back. He still wants him too much. The thought alone is enough to light him on fire. 

“Aw, c’mon.” Kid says, and Law can practically _hear_ that self-satisfied smirk in there. Law feels Kid straddling his chest, politely keeping most of his weight off of Law’s body, impolitely sliding the head of his cock over Law’s cheek, “Take care of me too, will you?” 

Law rolls his eyes in fake disdain, before opening his mouth, letting Kid guide his cock over his tongue. 

Law is a fair player, after all. 

-

He guesses Kid wasn’t lying because by the time the sun goes down Law _does_ feel like his headache has been cured. 

He feels relaxed, his body sluggish and languid, his mind lulled into a post orgasm induced haze. He definitely feels better now and lights up a cigarette to celebrate the fact. He leans against the wooden headboard of his bed, smoking lazily. He swears he will quit smoking soon. 

He watches Kid’s muscular back as the younger man heads towards Law’s bathroom. Soon after that he hears the shower running. Law sighs, satisfied but exhausted and takes another drag from his cigarette. 

He’s surprised when he hears the doorbell ring. Did Kid order take out in between rounds and Law was too out of it to take notice? Wouldn’t be the first time actually. 

He puts his cigarette out in the silver ashtray placed conveniently on his nightstand. He makes his way towards the door, quickly fishing up one of the shirts lying on the ground and throwing it over, before he opens it. 

Law’s breath gets stuck in his throat. 

It’s him. 

“Luffy.” Law breathes; or croaks out really. Words are failing him. His heart threatens to beat out of his fucking ribcage. 

He’s still the most beautiful thing Law’s ever seen and he feels some of his wounds open just looking at him. 

“Uhm, hey,” Luffy gives a little wave, a tentative hopeful smile on his face. He’s wearing a red hoodie and his usual jean shorts. His hair is a little wet, dripping onto his face. He clearly walked through the rain. He carries a pizza carton in his left hand. “I brought pizza, I hope it hasn’t gotten too damp, uhm… I thought we could talk and-”

“Oh, thank god,” a voice comes, followed by a strong arm around Law’s waist. 

Law feels every single one of his muscles tense up and he freezes on the spot. 

“You ordered pizza?” Kid grins, “Awesome. I’m starving.” 

He pushes Law gently to the side and takes the container out of Luffy’s hands. Luffy seems too puzzled by his sudden appearance to stop Kid from doing so. Kid’s only wearing a towel around his waist, his naked muscular chest on display. His red hair is also wet, but not from the rain. 

And god, what a picture they must make. 

Luffy’s eyes quickly flicker between the two of them and Law notices now that his shirt is hanging sort of loosely on him, clearly not even his own. And then there’s Kid, obviously just out of the shower. There’s no question as to what had transpired between them just before Luffy had arrived. 

Kid leaves in the direction of Law’s living room with the food in his hand. He gives Law’s waist a last squeeze as he goes, and if that isn’t enough, he pushes a quick kiss to Law’s mouth, the action affectionate, clearly meant to thank him. 

Even Luffy must’ve pieced two and two together now, because the hesitant, cheerful little smile that graced his face just a moment ago vanished completely and got replaced by a hurt frown and it _kills_ Law. 

He doesn’t want to be the reason for Luffy losing his smile. Ever. 

“Oh,” Luffy breaths, and for the first time since Law knows him, his voice is devoid of any emotion. It’s not meant to mean anything, but it says so much. “I guess you’re already busy.”

What? How can Luffy say that when all Law’s been doing the last months was _waiting_ for him? 

“No, hold on, wait,” Law rushes out, helplessly, stupidly, desperately. He almost reaches out to take a hold of Luffy’s wrist. He opens the door wider, a clear invitation to come back into Law’s life, “Eat with us, yeah?”

Shit, don’t make him fucking beg. But he can’t let Luffy leave. Not now. Not ever again. 

Luffy visibly hesitates. His dark brown eyes shift, as if he’s searching for Kid inside his apartment. Law hates Kid in that moment, the fucking intruder. 

“What about-?” 

“It’s raining outside,” Law hastily says. He can’t let Luffy leave, he has to make him stay. If Luffy leaves now Law knows that that will be the end. And that can’t be it, not yet. “Just...” he starts, trying to find the right words to convince him, “Come in for a while at least, okay? Get dry.”

Luffy pauses then gives a small nod, though he still seems uncertain of what to think of the entire situation, like he needs time to mull it over in his head. 

Law can’t blame him. God, he can’t blame him at all. It shines an awful desperate light on him, picking up another man right after getting rejected, but it’s the only way Law could have coped. It’s not about fixing his stupid ego. He’s just always been like that, overshadowing feelings with whatever he can find. Whatever helps. Cigarettes and sex have always been on top of that list. That’s just him. And now Luffy knows. 

He quickly introduces the two to each other and tries to steamroll through the awkwardness. Kid doesn’t seem to notice Law’s discomfort, oblivious to the tension in the room, though he finally manages to put a damn shirt on. 

Even Luffy, who’s usually so easy-going and comfortable around everyone, seems to be on edge, his eyes shifting between them. He’s not fully relaxing into the cushions of Law’s couch like he usually would, instead he’s sitting upright, looking like he’s ready to leave again.

Law feels hot shame trickle down his spine when he realizes just how fucked up his living room looks like; the whiskey bottle he shared with Shachi, empty on the table, dirty glasses, the overflowing ashtrays, Kid’s beer bottles. He swears he saw an empty condom package on the carpet somewhere. 

It’s a pathetic reflection of his life without Luffy.

It’s a damn mess. 

Luffy wasn’t meant to see this. 

And suddenly Law’s hyper aware of it all. He’s aware of Kid sitting too damn close to him, their thighs touching. He’s aware of every single glance Luffy sends them, though he can’t even make their meaning out at all. He can’t tell what Luffy’s thinking. For once, he’s inscrutable.

Normally Luffy’s emotions are displayed openly, but right now he’s guarding them, not letting on to what he’s feeling. It’s odd to see Luffy so closed off. He seems colder that way, lacking his usual warmth. They’re only sitting a few feet apart but Law feels like it’s miles away. He can’t reach Luffy like this. There’s a sudden distance between them that wasn’t there before and Law has no idea how to bridge it. 

“So,” Luffy carefully starts. He’s not even really eating his pizza, just kind of picking at the edge of it, eating it in small bites, like he had somewhat lost his appetite. “How do you guys know each other?”

Before Law can answer, Kid replies, “We met at a party,” Law’s glad he keeps it short. 

Luffy nods slowly, it’s all he needs to know. Law can’t tell what he’s feeling, thinking. Is he judging Law? Is he judging him for finding someone else to latch onto so quickly after being rejected? Is he thinking less of him now? 

Law can’t fucking tell and it frustrates the hell out of him.

“How about you two?” Kid asks then, obviously just trying to make small talk, but god, Law wishes he would just shut up.

“He, uhm,” Law starts, but Luffy interrupts him. 

“I kept him from jumping off his balcony,” he states matter of factly. 

Kid’s whips his head around to face him, _“What.”_ he asks sharply, and fuck. Reading Luffy right now is impossible, but Kid? Kid’s wearing his heart on his sleeve this very moment, expression open and vulnerable and he’s obviously deeply worried. His lips are curled downwards, his non-existent eyebrows drawn together in a small frown, his eyes shocked. 

He grips Law’s wrist as if to make sure Law’s still here and fuck. Law wants to tell him to _stop looking at me like that_.

“Law, what the hell.” Kid mutters.

“I wasn’t.” Law stresses. He tries to get his hand back to himself, but Kid holds on tightly, “I _wasn’t_. I wouldn’t. He misread the situation, that’s all. I was having a smoke outside.”

“Thank fuck,” Kid laughs a little, clearly relieved. 

Law can pick up on it and he knows Luffy can as well. Fuck, Kid’s got no business sounding like that. 

Luffy’s watching their exchange like a hawk. He stares at Kid clutching at Law’s hand, like he would love nothing more but to tear Kid’s hand clean off. Or maybe Law lost his mind and the fact that Luffy appeared out of nowhere has finally finished him off for good. 

But no, when Law dares to glance back at Luffy’s face, the murderous intent is still there. 

By now, he knows that Luffy is not just that endlessly smiling, happy ball of sunshine. Law knows that he’s got depth, that he has different facets to his personality. He’s seen Luffy deep in thought before, but he’s never seen him this close to rage. It’s intriguing. He keeps on surprising Law. 

This is what people mean when they talk about _attraction_. Luffy’s the magnet and Law feels the pull. He makes every nerve of Law’s body light up.

And it scares him shitless. 

He stands up, forcing Kid to finally let go of his hand, “Does someone want a drink?” Law asks, solely because he needs a break from the tense air. “Kid? A beer? Luffy?” 

“A beer would be good, thanks,” Kid says, giving a light shrug.

Law nods, and looks towards Luffy, waiting for an answer. Luffy ignores his questioning glance though and instead levels a glare at Kid, “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” he asks, his tone suggesting that he really has no idea why Kid is still in Law’s apartment to begin with. 

Law inhales sharply, the sudden question baffling him enough to forget what he was about to say. He must have misheard that, right? What is going on?

“What the fuck?” Kid asks sharply, looking just as bewildered as Law feels, his non-existent eyebrows raised high. His easy, relaxed demeanor shifting into barely contained anger, “What did just you say?”

The question is rhetoric. Kid heard Luffy very well. He’s just asking again to give Luffy a chance to back out. But Luffy obviously has a fucking death wish, because he huffs out an impatient breath, the corners of his mouth are turned downward, there’s a deep frown on his pretty face. He seems fucking pissed and Law barely recognizes him. 

“I asked, if you don’t have anywhere else to be,” Luffy bites out, unimpressed.

Kid snorts meanly, “ _You_ were the one who showed up uninvited.”

He looks downright insulted, his eyes thinning dangerously, and it becomes clear to Law that he’s not just going to sit back and take Luffy being rude to him. No, his ego is too big for that. 

“Wow, you’re an idiot,” Luffy sneers, leaning back into the couch, arms crossed like a petulant child. Law’s never seen him like that. It doesn’t make any sense.

Law feels like he’s missed something, “Luffy, what are you-”

But Kid interrupts and speaks over him, “Say that again you little shit,” he murmurs darkly, temper flaring, “I dare you.”

Luffy huffs out an angry breath and opens his mouth to surely retort something stupid, but Law’s had enough of this. He needs to intervene or things will clearly escalate between these two. He feels like he’s too hungover to deal with this. 

“Shut up, Eustass,” Law snaps, before he eyes Luffy, “Luffy, hey,” he starts more carefully, “What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing,” Luffy shakes his head. 

He says that but he looks and sounds angry and Law feels out of his depth, doesn’t know what he should do against that. 

“Whatever. I’m leaving,” Luffy stands up then and he’s still glancing at Kid like he’s a threat, like he’s itching to fight him, like he _would_ fight him right now if it weren’t for Law standing between them.

“What? Luffy, no.” Law says and if his voice comes out a bit too desperate, they’re ignoring that. 

“Good.” Kid grunts.

Very helpful. “I said shut up,” Law growls.

Kid just shrugs lightly, and he’s looking at him with raised eyebrows that seem to say _“Hey, I’m not the bad guy here,”_ but Law only rolls his eyes at him.

Luffy seems to have made up his mind. He pulls his hood over his head, looks closed off and distant and Law hates it, but he doesn’t know how to fix it either. He’s never been able to pin Luffy’s behavior down, he’s never been able to understand him fully. It’s part of what makes him interesting to Law, his personality more complex than you would assume at first glance. It would be insulting and downright wrong to say that Luffy’s only this outgoing, friendly guy with a sunny personality. 

He’s not just that, he’s never been just that.

Unlike Kid, who’s like an open book to Law, Luffy is unpredictable and he’s captivating because of it. 

Luffy doesn’t spare him a single glance when he passes him by, heading for Law’s front door. Law kicks into action, ignoring Kid’s questioning sound when he takes off after him. 

Doesn’t Kid get it? Can’t he see why this is important? 

Law thought his love for Luffy is pretty damn obvious. He’s good at hiding his emotions but not _that_ good. And his feelings towards Luffy are too strong to just tuck away so easily. He can’t hide this. He doesn’t know how. He’s got no practice dealing with this sort of thing. 

When they’re in the small hall of Law’s apartment he finally grabs Luffy’s wrist to make him turn around, “Luffy, talk to me,” he says, “What’s going on?” 

Luffy tears his hand out of his light hold, “It’s _him_ , okay?” He points towards the living room, where they left Kid on the couch, “I can’t stand him.”

Law blinks, a little shocked. Of course, he noticed that Luffy didn’t feel all that friendly towards Eustass, but he hadn’t expected him to admit it so freely. Luffy’s got absolutely no reason to dislike Kid other than…

Jealousy. 

Law hates himself for that small seed of hope that suddenly nestles inside of his arching heart and starts growing without his goddamn permission. Fuck, they’ve been there, haven’t they? Law should know better than to _hope_. One would assume that Luffy’s punch in the face was enough to make it shrivel up and die, but apparently Law’s denser than he had first thought or love really does make damn stupid. 

Either way, he shouldn’t even entertain the thought and yet. 

The question burns on his tongue. 

_Are you jealous? Are you jealous? Are you jealous?_

It runs through his mind again and again until the words stumble out of his mouth, “Are you jealous?” he asks quietly. Because it _is_ the only explanation and Law is sick of beating around the bush. 

If possible, the corners of Luffy’s mouth curl downwards even more, and now he looks offended, “What? No.” he says firmly, shaking his head in clear denial, “Why would I be jealous?”

In an instant, Law feels cold and rejected all over again. And it’s just not fucking fair. It’s not fair how Luffy makes him feel like this, so unworthy, like Law’s not good enough and will never be, like Law is stupid for thinking Luffy would want to kiss him back, like he’s absolutely insane for believing Luffy would be feeling jealousy over him being with someone else. It’s not fair that Luffy holds this much power over him, that he’s able to hurt him this deeply with only a few words, affecting him like this when it seems like nothing Law says or does could faze him.

“Forget it,” Law murmurs, folds his arms over his chest like that could possibly protect him from Luffy, “If you want me to ask him to leave I will,” he offers, a last resort. 

If there's a slim chance left of Luffy staying, Law is going to damn well take it. Luffy came here to talk, didn’t he? Maybe if it weren’t for Eustass distracting him, they could talk it out and Luffy can let him down gently or whatever and perhaps they could still be friends, right? 

Law would take that. That would be okay. That would be better than nothing.

Luffy seems to be torn by Law’s offer though, “You don’t need to throw him out for me,” he mumbles, “You seem close.”

“Not _that_ close,” Law shrugs, trying for nonchalance. He runs his hand through his messy hair, “I barely know him.”

Suddenly Luffy frowns. He seems confused, “But you… you kissed.” 

“So what?” Law huffs out a breath, feeling utterly frustrated. Is Luffy acting obtuse on purpose? “That doesn’t mean shit.”

Luffy seems to be taken aback by this, eyes widening wide, “So... a kiss. That’s,” he swallows, clearly trying to make something sense in his mind. Law doesn’t know why he sounds so baffled all of sudden, “That doesn’t mean anything to you?” 

“No,” Law lets out a tiny scoff. “Not with him, it doesn’t.”

_But with you, it would,_ Law almost says it but can keep himself from doing so at the last second. 

He’s already made a fool out of himself once. Luffy _knows_ that Law wants to kiss him. He knows that. He doesn’t need to say it. Luffy already made it quite clear that he wants nothing like that to happen. Law doesn’t think he could handle another rejection. He still carries the bruise of that first one around. 

“Oh,” Luffy breaths, but he barely seems to have listened to Law, obviously confused. “That’s. Okay?” he shakes his head, “I mean, it’s not. Not okay, but now I know. And… you don’t. We’re not.” He stammers, he sounds upset and his face is getting a bit flushed, like thinking so much exhausts him.

Law’s left wondering what they’re not. 

Then Luffy nods a few times, like he’s figured out a puzzle. He doesn’t look too happy about it though, “So. You can do whatever you want, right?” Luffy’s not even looking at him when he asks. He doesn’t sound so sure about it either. 

“Right?” Law says and he means to make it a statement, but the word comes out as more of a question because he honestly doesn’t get what is going on right now. Luffy seems more than a little distraught and Law can’t tell why. Is it because Eustass acted like they’re dating and Luffy automatically assumed they are? 

“Right,” Luffy echoes more quietly, sounding hollowed out. “I’m going then.” 

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” Law offers again, tries not to sound too desperate but he feels like he missed that by a mile.

But Luffy’s takes a few steps backward towards Law’s door, and it looks like he’s fleeing from Law’s apartment yet again. “No, I mean, yes. I should. I should leave,” Luffy says, voice a little smaller than before, “Uhm, we can text?” 

Law feels pure relief by the offer. At least Luffy doesn’t want to vanish and leave nothing but deafening silence behind. Law will take what he can get, “Yeah, sure.” 

He just wishes he had a reason for Luffy to stay, but he can’t come up with one as long as Eustass Kid is still lazing around his living room. But the fact that Luffy’s willing to text… 

That’s a start, that’s better than Luffy punching him and then running away.

Maybe there’s still a chance, maybe they can get over this. 

Maybe they can forget that Law tried to kiss Luffy. It won’t be easy on Law, but he would rather be friends with Luffy and have a few awkward months trying to reestablish their friendship than have nothing at all. 

No matter what, he can’t let Luffy leave his life again. He’s too important. Law will learn to hide his feelings away. Law can deal. 

“Text me when you’re home?” Law asks at last. 

Luffy gives him a curt nod, and for a second it looks like he wants to hug Law, like he usually would, but then he just leaves with a small wave, and a smile that’s so fake it barely reaches his eyes.

Law sighs and stares at his closed door like he can magically will Luffy to come back. 

This could have gone better. 

-

He takes a short moment collecting himself before he walks back into the living room where Kid’s surely waiting with annoying questions. Law’s not sure he has an answer to all of them. Not sure he wants Kid to know so much about him either. 

He’s always been protective of his feelings, but when it comes to Luffy, Law knows he gets downright defensive. 

Surprisingly, Kid doesn’t say a single word when Law returns to him. He silently watches as Law starts cleaning up, taking the whisky bottle, the empty glasses and the ashtray with him to the kitchen. Kid’s nursing his beer in silence, clearly mulling the last hour over in his head, following him with his eyes.

He feels his eyes burning holes into his back as he wipes the table with a wet towel, cleaning up the surface. It’s getting on his nerves. He should just say what he wants to say. He usually never holds back, blabbering till Law’s ears hurt.

“Spit it out,” Law snaps at him. 

Kid seems unimpressed. He leans his big body into Law’s couch, “Who was that?” he just asks, “Ex-boyfriend?” 

Law snorts, “Just a friend,” even to himself it sounds like a lie. If Luffy were just a friend to him everything would be much easier.

“Didn’t seem like _‘just a friend’_ ” Kid’s deep voice is laced with doubt, “A friend would never get jealous like that.” 

“He wasn’t,” Law immediately says. He refuses to start believing otherwise. It only messes with him. He can’t take this false hope anymore. “Don’t say that.”

Kid raises his eyebrows at Law’s denial. He scoffs at him, “I saw what I saw.” 

“You saw nothing.” 

Kid laughs, but it doesn’t carry any humor, “You know what else I saw?” he asks, and Law’s not sure he wants to know, “You looking at him like he hung up the moon or some shit.”

“Shut up,” Law says, halting in his movement. He’s not going to be discussing this with Kid, “You’ve no idea what you’re talking about.” 

Kid just hums, “You said you’re not interested in dating anyone,” and though that’s true, Law can’t even remember saying that, can’t even remember having this conversation with Kid at all, “Is it because of him?” 

Law’s got to give it to him, Kid’s dangerously perceptive when he wants to be, or maybe Law’s just so obvious that even a musclehead like Kid is able to catch on. Either way, Law doesn’t feel like baring himself to him in that way. He doesn’t need him meddling in his business either. 

He doesn’t owe him this kind of vulnerability. He doesn’t owe him anything. 

“No,” Law lies straight through his teeth, “No, it’s not.”

Kid’s kind enough to not call him out on his bullshit. 

\--

It’s late at night and sleep is avoiding him. He’s lying wide awake in his bed when his phone finally chimes with a text message from Luffy. 

It’s been so long since he last opened Luffy’s chat. He’s been trying not to. The last message said _“Today was a good day”_ and it’s from Luffy with the picture of their trip to the city attached.

He can’t look at it without his heart yearning wistfully. He wishes he could have that moment back. Luffy smiles so carelessly in that picture, rosy cheeks and bright eyes. Things were so good between them then. 

Law wants to go back in time. Rewind it. Do things differently. 

_“Sorry about today,”_ Luffy’s new text reads, _“I was in a bad mood.”_

Understatement. Law still hasn’t really figured out what happened there. Before Law can type back that it’s alright, another text message from Luffy reaches him. 

_“Are you awake? Can I call you?”_

Law’s heart suddenly pounds right up to his throat. He feels it everywhere, the drum of it so strong, even his fingers shake from it. He quickly sits up in his bed, sheets pooling around his waist. 

_“Yes,”_ he texts back, and the next seconds that he spends waiting for Luffy’s call after that are pure torture. Why is he so nervous? Why can’t he act like a normal person?

His phone rings with an incoming call. Law takes a few seconds to compose himself before he tells himself to get over it and swiftly swipes his thumb over the green button. 

“Hey,” he says, hates how his voice comes out too breathless. Fuck, Trafalgar get a grip. 

“ _Hey_ _Torao,_ ” Luffy’s voice echoes, his tone soft and Law’s heart gets all messed up. How dare he speak like that, doesn’t he know what kind of chaos he causes? _“Sorry, did I wake you?”_

“No, I wasn’t asleep yet,” Law decides to be honest. He settles against his pillows, getting a little comfortable. He needs to relax. Breath. This is just Luffy. He _knows_ Luffy. There's nothing to be afraid of and yet, Law's heart pounds. 

_“Okay, good,”_ Luffy sighs, there’s a pause before he adds, _“I missed talking to you.”_

Law’s heart jumps at the confession and he bites his bottom lip hard in an effort to stop himself from smiling. God. Fuck it all to hell. How’s he supposed to do this when Luffy can manipulate his feelings with just a few words? 

“Me too,” Law rasps out, voice choked up with emotions. He doesn’t know how he feels. Giddy, but at the same time he feels a great sense of loss. Luffy doesn’t mean it the way Law wants him to, he’s just saying whatever comes to his mind. He presses his phone closer to his ear, “I missed it too.” 

_Missed you._

Luffy snickers a little, carefree and happy, and Law missed that too, that beautiful sound that makes his insides light up, _“I’ve got so much stuff to tell you,”_ Luffy goes on, excited.

“Yeah?” Law prompts and Luffy starts to ramble. 

He starts talking about his adventures, about Sanji and the Baratie, tells the story about a small bug that landed right on his friend's long nose, how hilarious that was, how they’d celebrated birthdays and threw parties, and _‘Oh, Torao you should have been there!’_ but it’s alright, there are many parties in the future where Law can join in.

It becomes clear to him that Luffy's disappearance from his life took a bigger toll on him, than it did to Luffy. The boy just lived his life like he usually would. It apparently didn't matter if Law's there with him or not. For Luffy, life just went on. Law smiles a little sadly, humming at the right times to let Luffy know he’s listening, his heart sinking a little at the realization that Luffy’s talking about his days like he usually would. He speaks to Law like he always did. Like there’s not a two month pause in their friendship, like it hadn’t been forcefully put on hold, because Law couldn’t restrain himself. 

Luffy’s picking up where they left off. He doesn't mention the almost-kiss, or Kid and how he’d behaved today. They’re ignoring all of that and if that’s how Luffy wants it, Law’s fine with it. 

If that’s the only way, he will take what he can get from Luffy. 

Maybe it’s for the best and soon they will forget that Law ever tried for more. And a few months from now, they will laugh about it. It will be hilarious that Law thought Luffy could ever want him back. 

They will find it funny. A big fucking joke. 

And they don’t ever need to talk about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phewww... Idk why, but this is the only fic where the chapters just get. so. damn. long. 
> 
> And as the past has proven, I can't plan fics to save my life, so I really shouldn't add a chapter number before I have written absolutely everything of it down. WELP. more chapters just means more to read, right? 
> 
> I hope you liked it, leave some love if you did <3


End file.
